


Awaken The Stars Song Book 1 of the Star Singers Universe

by KurahieiritrJIO, Oldtimescribe



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, F/M, M/M, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-14 12:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 92,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8013553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KurahieiritrJIO/pseuds/KurahieiritrJIO, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oldtimescribe/pseuds/Oldtimescribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Star Temple Highest and Holy became the Celestial Spirits by forfeiting their lives to save Earthland thousands of years ago.  Their Star Singer descendants were left behind to become the Celestial Spirit Mages who wield Magical keys to call upon their ancient ancestors and are subject to unknown, ancient curses meant to protect the Celestial Spirit realm and Earthland alike.<br/>When Lucy, unknown descendant of the Celestial Spirit King, falls prey to one of the Ancient Curses, newly awakening Fairies and hybrids panic and use a soul altering spell to save her life by binding her to Laxus' and Natsu's souls equally. Tensions rise as Modern and Ancient Cultures collide, while Hisui and Yukino are abducted by the World Ruiner. As Lucy and her new Mates struggle to find common ground, everyone is tasked with the duty of finding and retrieving the Crown Princess of Fiore by King Toma.<br/>Can the last three Celestial Mages get strong enough to become the new holy triad capable of stopping Earthland's destruction as an ancient evil tries to escape it's prison in the Celestial Spirit World with help from the World Ruiner? Book 1 of the Star Singer's Universe. Revised/updated edition from Fanfiction net site.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Birth of the Celestial Spirits

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, nor the characters from it. I do not make money from this story.

Authors Note: I am posting the revised version here. The original raw is on fantiction net. Half of this novel is a solo project, while the second half of this novel is co-authored by Oldtime Scribe on fanficiton net. I do not know if he has an account on here, or not, but he's fine with me sharing this partial collaboration here. **Loki’s POV=Reagaltiel is his human name for this chapter** WARNINGS: Gore heavy chapter. _**Bold italics = dreams/flashbacks  
**_

 

Prologue: Birth of Celestial Spirits

 

_  
**A formless nightmare had descended upon Earthland, obliterating everything in its path. The powerful being started rampaging by introducing true death to the immortal Fairy races. The Beast Clans, Bird Clans, and the Sheemastra Nobles were all being annihilated with the same ease in which the Fairies oft times butchered humans.**_

_**Even the tiny Pictasey, who really only cared for plant life, were being destroyed, a problem that none wished to find a suitable alternative for with future harvesting experiments that the Virgo temple was undertaking. Despite their whimsical pranks, the Pictasey were kindly viewed by all the races for the most part. The demise of the other species of Fairies was fine with all the races sharing their world. Yet everyone realized this formless monster was determined to eradicate all life, including the beneficial Pictasey, not just the vile tempered, larger sized Fairies. All plant life was included in the decimation, as were animals of all kinds. Everyone had to do their part to defeat the blood thirsty menace to save all life on their world.** _

 

_**Helping the one race that all the others resented felt odd to Reagaltiel. Every species survived their own kind of Fairy created misery. Reagaltiel knew the misery far more intimately than many because of his beloved’s experiences with them. If not for his life partner, Vraylinish, demanding that everyone fight as one to stop the demon before it destroyed everything, Reagaltiel would not be here. Yet to make her happy, Reagaltiel was fighting a losing battle. The insane life and death conflict left Reagaltiel numbed to his core by the horrors witnessed on the battlefield.** _

 

_**The Fairies had always believed themselves far greater than the rest of the races, and acted accordingly. Enslaving anyone who amused them was just one of the many cruelties the Fairies enacted upon the other races. Until he was drawn into this war, Reagaltiel had naively believed nothing was more horrific than a Fairy pair’s arrogant and somewhat vicious games. Before the Abyss Lord arrived, all the races combined had believed that the inability of Fairies to comprehend things like death, while being fascinated by such, made them the most evil thing to ever exist. Yet Reagaltiel wondered how they could overcome the ceaseless attacks of this demon when true immortals died like flies getting crushed beneath boulders every time the Abyss Lord’s magic struck. The Fairy continent was shattering beneath inky, roiling power. Whatever Abyss Lord wanted was a mystery. However, every spell the demonic being unleashed, targeted and decimated a new group of mages which was proof it thought and spoke. All the pure blood magical races, and even Bane Warriors agreed the Abyss Lord was intelligent. How wrong they had been about what constituted absolute evil! Compared to this Abyss Lord, the Fairy tribes were downright gentle!** _

 

_**The black energy-encased monstrosity, which the various race leaders dubbed ‘Abyss Lord,’ flowed on vortexes of wildly spinning black magic across the battle field. A ragged knot of Leo Constellation’s Star Singer priests fought for their world’s survival alongside the other races. Reagaltiel, the Highest Priest of the Leo temple monitored the unholy, limitless feeling magic that kept disintegrating everything the unseen demon’s power touched. His exhausted mind whirled with memories, strategies, and impotent fury as he dug ever deeper into himself to maintain the flagging connection he had to Leo’s stars.** _

 

_**Destroyed land, already consumed by the violent maelstrom of blackest magic was blown by gale force winds from the unseen sentience. The magical gusts mixed with blood laden mist left over from life killing, explosive spells. The combination was an abhorrent rainfall that obscured all. Gore caked all the priests clothing, and their as-sundry allied warriors in a thick layer of ghoulish mud. Even waterproof furs and boiled leathers had grown soggy with the unholy filth as the magical holocaust intensified. Desperation drove the unified races to hurl themselves at this brutal enemy which none seemed able to conquer.** _

 

_**Constant screams rent the killing field’s air as magical beasts and humans were ripped apart. Shattered weapon chunks flew about on currents of evil magic to fall amongst the various factions involved. Many were falling under the onslaught, losing their last ditch battle for survival. Reagaltiel was the strongest Star Singer left to the Leo Constellation temple. He was furious that his warrior priests’ spells were not making any headway now that the other teams were dead. All his remaining priests were using their strongest spells against the black magic steadily bearing down upon them. Still, he knew that other magical races were in worse positions than Reagaltiel’s tight cluster of exhausted priests.** _

 

_**The Tenru continent continued shrinking at an alarming rate, as the Abyss Lord destroyed everything with little remaining opposition. Another heavy, red hued mist blew across Reagaltiel’s Temple priests’ position. The mist pelted Reagaltiel’s group with small chunks of what once comprised living beings. The last warrior priests under High Priest Reagaltiel’s command were now immune to the carrion rain, so continued weaving their attacks. It was no time to allow his temper to overwhelm Reagaltiel’s considerable wits. His temple’s members were depending on Reagaltiel to find the key to keeping everyone alive.** _

 

_**Nothing from the diverse races’ conjoined magic attacks seemed capable of stopping the unseen demon. Only a few spells slowed the nightmare’s momentum. The temporarily unified races had agreed it would take all of them working together to stop the unknown demon’s annihilation of their world. However, the various races kept splitting into segregated race units. The exceptions were the Fey Bane warriors, but they were not well received by any race other than Centaurs, and Humans. The Fey breeds stuck to their assigned groups if they still lived. Yet they were suffering from underhanded attacks by their temporary teammates. Having noticed the problem, Reagaltiel doubted that anyone would survive unless something drastic was done to put a stop to the inside killing that was aiding their common enemy.** _

 

_**Only a handful of beings could use the one power, creation’s true, undiluted and unstoppable source of magic. Yet Reagaltiel felt in his bones that the one power was desperately needed on a massive scale. Only such a rare magic could stop the wholesale slaughter he was witnessing. Even the Fairies could only tap the one power under certain circumstances, with unusually strong bonded pairs, and this was not one of those occasions that granted the monsters enough time to tap that kind of power consistently. By the looks of things, nobody was going to live through this war because too few races could put their hatreds aside long enough to buy enough time for the few Fairies that still breathed to access the one power.** _

 

_**Reagaltiel only allowed his thoughts to wander into such territory to prevent himself from dropping any deeper into the Astral Star Chain’s trance. Astral Star Chains fed all Star Singers extra power needed to hurl spells. Having been tied to his chain for so long, Reagaltiel was beyond mentally exhausted. All of his priests had gone beyond their natural limits to continue hurling magic at the formless mass of raw destruction spiraling and transforming the terrain with mindless abandon. Tapping star powers came at a dangerous price. Fall too deeply into the trance and the Singer’s body would be destroyed by the star force. Too many of his brothers and sisters had already died in that fashion during this massacre. A refined mental balance was necessary to link into star power to use as a magic fuel. It required fresher minds than any of them had left Reagaltiel knew. It was only a matter of time before they all died the painful death that had been witnessed countless times since this battle began.** _

 

_**Armed with this vision of horror, Reagaltiel felt it was better to survive their world’s normal nightmares. Fairies were well known enemies, and it seemed wiser to avoid accepting anything worse than the Fairies at their most vile. All the Races now agreed their banes of existence were better than this monster if only because the Fairies did not destroy the world around them. One thing was coming of the blood bath, learning how death felt might bring real change to the truly immortal race if any of them survived. The Fairies were finally experiencing what it was like to have their eternal existence erased as if they were nothing but insignificant insects by a far crueler nightmare than their own kind ever produced.** _

 

_**Only recognition of mutual survival could force so many enemy races into this unprecedented alliance. Within a few days, a largish continent was almost erased from their world. Such incomprehensible destruction was the only reason all of the races had joined forces and gathered to fight. If the immortal Fairies could not stop this enemy, the rest of their world would be reduced to nothing should they also fail in this God forsaken place.** _

 

_**The whirling tornado of energy must protect a physical body they still assumed. When they accepted the truce from the Sheemastra Royal clan to participate in this impossible fight, everyone thought they could take the monster down. After two days without rest, Abyss seemed impervious to every form of weapon and magic that was hurled into the black seething power that hid the beast. Whatever it looked like, beneath all that power, was anyone’s guess. Reagaltiel had no desire to know what the nightmare looked like at this point. He simply desired an end to the slaughter so he could find his bond mate and forget this ever happened.** _

 

_**The Fairies, and their even less human looking kinsmen were vanishing faster than any of their allies could fathom. Fairies did not vanish as they all knew after centuries of fighting with the somewhat sadistic race. The most frightening part of this one sided war was watching true immortals exploding and increasing the unnatural bloody mists with falling flesh chunks and shattered bone bits. So much carrion and mud continued peppering the allied ranks until it was impossible to determine a friend from a foe outside of general species shapes.** _

 

_**The dingy yet visible silvery white rainbow hide of Sertatsie the Creation Queen flicked into sight as the winged beast dove and twisted in the air avoiding deadly spikes of power flitting out of the mass of the Abyss Lord’s energy shield. Other dragons followed in a scraggly formation, their latest strafing runs against the enemy getting repelled for the most part.** _

 

_**The Dragon race’s highest ranked queen also carried Reagaltiel’s beloved upon her neck as they rushed toward the obscene spirit cloud. Combining their rare versions of the One Power, the pair shot forth complimentary spells in tandem. Their combined powers welded together and had a real effect on the Abyss Lord’s whirlwind shielding. The dark waves of energy flowed in reverse, swirled and writhed under each spell the pair managed to hurl at the pitch black force.** _

 

_**If anyone could stop the Abyss Lord’s momentum, he believed it was Sertatsie, Highest Queen of the Dragons, and Vraylinish, the Sacred Saint and Supreme Alpha of the Bane Warriors. The pair had unified all the races to fight this unspeakable evil menace when the ambassadors from Tenru arrived with the horrific news of an unstoppable enemy appearing in their world. Such nightmares always made Vraylinish stronger, and this certainly was the worst one any had faced yet. Being soaked in viscera had to be one of the most sickening things he had ever witnessed, and Reagaltiel had witnessed some very cruel things in his lifetime.** _

 

_**Humans alone tapped power sources from outside of this world. Bane Warriors had hoped the talent would slow, if not outright stop, the Abyss Lord’s onslaught. Still, the One Power seemed to have a stronger effect on the mass of pitch black power than their many diverse star songs were having, possibly due to the lack of solidarity. Reagaltiel wondered how they could stop the beast bearing down on their position as if there was not a drop of resistance before it. Because so few humans used magic, the Star Singers had been included in this farce of a war by the Bane Warriors’ demands. All sixteen major Constellation Temples were battling beside the rest of the races which were quite extraordinary.** _

 

_**Despite how dangerously deep Reagaltiel drew upon the immense power of the star Regulus, and focused it into every holy star song, he, and all the Leo Constellation Temple priests under his command continued giving ground. Perhaps it was because they were doing their own thing with each attack, unlike Sertatsie and Vraylinish. Waves of malicious magic resisted their random healing, and battle magic because of each doing their strongest spells. However, as a single force, it was possible that they could withstand the overwhelming destructive force they sought to nullify.** _

 

_**Bringing down the extremely powerful energy vortex that had to be surrounding the creature needed to be their one accomplishment. Their stronger magical allies like the Centaurs, Satyrs, Dragons, Dires, Melusines, and Fairies could only kill the vile, godlike beast if they brought that barrier, or whatever it was, down. Reagaltiel focused on keeping the astral chain intact despite gnawing exhaustion as he decided to change their tactics. A test would prove whether or not they would lose the last opportunity or not he decided.** _

 

_**“Everyone, let’s all use a Regulus burst at the same time. Let’s act as one being to see if we can make a hole in that barrier.”** _

 

_**The rest of his temple priests bellowed their agreement and all began to focus on the same goal, raising more power from the Regulus star to forge it into a single whole. Their song merged into a single note as the power focused into a single point under Reagaltiel’s direct command.** _

 

_**Pride swelled in Reagaltiel’s heart at their willingness to follow his shouted command. He cast the final motions into their group spell, and prayed it would also keep the spiraling darkness recoiling into itself alongside Sertatsie and Vraylinish’s attack. A satisfactory boom followed as the golden mass of combined holy power collided with the black, twisting, force of destruction. It was far from perfect, but the drawn back reaction of the black vortex was genuine. His conviction solidified as he began to plan a more solidified attack plan.** _

 

_**“Our numbers doing the same exact spell simultaneously is the only option we have to bring that barrier down. It does real damage. We need to keep working together until our timing becomes a single being. Everyone with me?”** _

 

_**“I’m going to go out of control soon. I can’t keep drawing on Regulus without combusting, Reagaltiel.” One of the priests managed to pant out.** _

 

_**“Can you get to the other temples and tell them we’ve discovered a way to combine power with a single spell to drive that monster back?” Reagaltiel asked trying to determine who had spoken.** _

 

_**To his left, an older priest leaning over and gripping his knees nodded as he continued to gasp. “I think I can do that much. I simply can’t hold the trance any longer. I’m just not strong enough.”** _

 

_**“Then find the nearest temple leader and see if we can’t get everyone working on the same attack strategy. Tell them to keep the information moving to every other temple while you’re at it.”** _

 

_**The small elder turned and jogged toward the next cluster of people which had to be their sister or brother temple. The Leo Constellation priests began drawing again on their astral connection to the stars that ruled their power and worked on the next spell as a unit. Flinging the second much larger unified spell got a worthwhile result. The powerful blackness actually stalled.** _

 

_**Grinning with a fresh ignition of hope, Reagaltiel ordered the next attack sequence. His group began their next song as they complied with his song choice. They still had a chance if all the temples could work together. Sertatsie’s still somewhat visible hide swooped back into his line of sight as the spell was on the verge of completion. Reagaltiel decided to try and land their spell in the same vicinity as the One Power attack he knew was coming. Timing would be everything as he strained to the utmost to curb the power that he was merging together from all his companions. Twin lances of force exploded from Sertatsie’s place, other dragons hurling fire, lightning, and all elements they commanded to hit within the same area. With all his strength of will, way, and word, Reagaltiel drove the new spell at the monster, aiming with the astral chains to hit the same area.** _

 

_**A blast of black power exploded the land beneath their feet, knocking Reagaltiel from his feet before his team’s attack made contact. Boulders flew into the air as people of all races were flung in all directions. From the corner of his eye, as Reagaltiel struggled back onto his knees, he saw a large whitish form crash into the ground. Roughly twenty paces before his face, an arm, including a large chunk of exposed shoulder blade bone, hit ground and rolled to a stop. A vivid tattoo of a broken winged Fairy faced him. It was a tattoo he knew far too intimately for comfort. Only one such Fey curse mark existed, and Vraylinish was the one who bore it.** _

 

_**Utter calm and inhuman numbness erupted like a geyser from his core to swamp his being as Reagaltiel recognized the arm before bloody mud covered the tattoo upon the severed limb. His existence shuddered under despair so vast he could not comprehend any emotion at all. Vraylinish was obsessed with keeping her word to anyone she gave it to, and had vowed to return to him as soon as they won. Yet nobody existed who could survive the damage implied by that amputated limb. She was now part of the bloody mist and mud falling from the sky as far as he knew. It was the only explanation.** _

 

_**Reagaltiel scarce registered getting onto his feet. All he knew was that the black power before him had taken the only woman he could ever love without reservation. His connection to Regulus remained, and he dropped much deeper into the power trance as he pulled everything he could from his distant star. Nothing mattered except stopping the Abyss Lord now. He had no promises left to keep aside from stopping this monster. Life was no longer important to Reagaltiel. He had nothing to lose if he died calling on multiple stars at once.** _

 

_**The Abyss Lord had crossed the one line that should never be breached. The beast had taken the world Reagaltiel lived for away from him in an instant. Locking into a rhythm he had never dared explore before that he sensed within the distant stars, the Leo constellation priest flung open all of his power centers to fuse with the astral chain to maximum the power he could contain. Without hesitation he drew upon it with the sum of his being. It was said that the Phoenix could be summoned if a person tapped deep enough starlight. He was willing to die to call upon the most powerful being of legends to seal or destroy this menace. No matter what the legend might demand as payment, including his life, Reagaltiel would give it gladly to spare others from his own loss. All that mattered was getting revenge by stopping the beast.** _

 

_**Every power center in his body resonated with power, the astral chain thickening as Reagaltiel continued to draw harder upon the Constellation link he had woven and awoken over thirteen years. His mind focused on his task to the exclusion of all else. Scents and screams fell away from Reagaltiel’s awareness. The pain of drawing so much power should have been excruciating, but Reagaltiel noticed nothing beyond the horrific blackness spinning ever closer. His mind, and heart were so focused upon stopping the enemy before him he had no room inside himself to feel. Locked inside his deepest recesses, the Star Singer reached through the astral chains, lifting his attention ever higher as he sought a miracle their world needed.** _

 

_**All constellation temple high priests learned the forbidden song of the Phoenix, yet none ever dared to use it. Reagaltiel’s own father had taught it to him, as his father had learned it from his father before him. Digging into core reserves and entrenching his determination, Reagaltiel began to sing the chanted words, infused with stubborn will to draw the ruler of all stars to their world. “Web of Power become the Web of Light raised by my hands, Answer the call ye stars of ancient fire far above all lands. Called by the joining of forces strong and sure to this final task.”** _

 

_**Golden, fiery light engulfed Reagaltiel’s vision as the power overflowed from his body, spilling out to spite his determination to hold onto every drop for the final casting of the spell. Unable to see anything, he focused everything within himself even more securely onto achieving his goal. The pain was breaking through the numbness, but Reagaltiel refused to stop now that he had made the decision to win even though it would kill him. “I beseech and join the directions North to South with those of East to West. We call upon the universe, deem us mages trained and skilled. Let the Stars decide the form, the perfect pattern of the web that we build.”** _

 

_**The lack of a future did not bother Reagaltiel as he ignored screaming nerve endings and dove into his deepest self to continue his chosen work. He felt his soul ascending the astral chain at an increasing speed while the words continued to flow from his soul without hesitation. “Let life and peace be our parting gift to generations yet to be. Grant us the wisdom of a magic trap that no evil can repeal. You stars are like we who’ve felt your touch, you are our magic's guiding light. To save all life, mighty Phoenix, we are those prepared to fight and die. We shall create a circle one last time as we seek to raise creation’s power, to make concrete the trap which must endure after our flesh is gone. Teach us to light the darkest hour.”** _

 

_**The physical stars were circling around Reagaltiel, instead of flying far above as he had always viewed them before. A powerful, indescribably beautiful song of power flowed around Reagaltiel. A glance down showed him a vast yet round world, the place he had known all his life. The astral chain remained, tethering him to the physical world that he swore he would save. Soon a brilliant and unexpected light flowed up to join him. Unlike the golden fire of his own being, this one was aquamarine in color. Other lights were ascending along astral chains that Reagaltiel saw clearly for the first time. Each rapidly ascending light shone in different rainbow colors, representing the star constellations of each major temple. Each light must be a constellation temple High Priest whom had chosen the same path as himself. As he counted the ascending lights Reagaltiel realized that there were sixteen of them who had chosen to follow his lead. “Let the enemy challenge not our Web of Light through evil designs. We ascend into a circle one last time to raise the stars’ full power, Weave a prison that shall endure after flesh is gone to shine bright through our darkest hour. Please answer mighty Phoenix and fulfill our one desire.”** _

 

_**His Phoenix summoning song was ending Reagaltiel realized as he pushed his awareness outward, seeking a vastly wise being among the stars to give them the answer to a much needed victory. He connected with some kind of sentience that he could not begin to comprehend. It felt as if the very depths of darkness which he floated within were detaching, coalescing in the center of the solidifying ring of power raised by all the temples most powerful priests. The sum of the stars were flowing, shifting, and forming into tighter patterns against an inky canvas of nothing. Spirals of light with many colors began to form what looked like glittering clouds as the Phoenix took on a discernible form.** _

 

_**Still too numb to feel fear, Reagaltiel watched in fascination as the overwhelming spiritual force of the stars became a flaming bird that remained somewhat as black as the depths of the stars home, while burning with a light that none could withstand. Vast numbers of voices rang in his mind as one force, devastating Reagaltiel’s perceptions.** _

 

_**“I know why you have called upon me, Star Children. You’re courage and love are worthy of becoming accepted as the living embodiments of the stars with which you are aligned by nature. Are you willing to be the Guardians of the worlds, embracing the chains and locks that will forever bind the Destroyer in silence?”** _

 

_**Reagaltiel spoke first. “To save the lives of the innocent and prevent any more suffering I will gladly do whatever you require of me.”** _

 

_**“Spoken as only the Embodiment of Leo should speak.”** _

 

_**Other voices echoed his sentiment in their own voices, some female, other’s male. Each was answered by the Phoenix in turn as their constellations were named.** _

 

_**“As you are willing to become the prison for the Destroyer, so shall I aide you in binding the destruction of all realms and worlds away. It shall not touch the lives that you love unconditionally. You are the Guardians of the Constellations, the soul of the stars. You will sing with the stars which you adore for eternity. Their power is your own. Their knowledge shall you forever know. All that you need shall be provided to sustain you hence forth as you have agreed to sacrifice all for the salvation of all worlds.”** _

 

_**The Phoenix grabbed Reagaltiel’s astral chain and dove into his world’s atmosphere, collecting the other sixteen chains as it descended at an impossible speed. Everything moved too fast for Reagaltiel to see. He gritted his teeth and maintained his concentration upon his chain. His astral chain connection was being flooded by immense power that came from Regulus and all the stars that created the constellation of Leo. Never had he dreamed of this kind of power, but he was determined to stay in control of every drop. Reagaltiel still had one last promise to keep.** _

 

_**The Phoenix dove into the whirling blackness, while Reagaltiel and the other priests were told to focus on wrapping their astral star chains around the tornado that was killing everyone. Comprehension flowed into his mind as he saw the pattern he needed to help create. No longer fettered by a physical body, Reagaltiel used the abundant power flowing through his soul body to fly as commanded by the Phoenix, turning his star chain into a weapon of binding. Winding and dipping, leaping upward, and dropping down as the chain wrapped more firmly around the dark tornado of power, Reagaltiel focused upon tightening the chain. All the stars power aided him in keeping the chain from breaking as he made each pass. Others flashed and flowed in their directed weave to crisscross his own pattern, their chains weaving over and beneath each other to force a ball of sorts to form around the Abyss Lord.** _

 

_**Not much land remained of a once lush small continent Reagaltiel noted with sorrow. The last of the massive army of warriors that had come here were broken, and waiting for their deaths it seemed. Although he was hesitant to trap the Phoenix’s exist at the top, he felt himself getting told to obey. Finishing the weave, the various Priests were again in a circle, standing upon the wall of chains they had woven. From beneath their position they felt a massive upheaval. Unsure of the cause, they faintly heard the Phoenix command them to drag the sphere into the air. Drawing heavily on the power of his constellation, Reagaltiel was yet again the first to ascend into the air, reaching toward his beloved stars. A massive flash of light swept past them as they fought to obey the Phoenix. The power tore through his awareness, and all his intentions, and awareness tumbled into oblivion.** _

 

Jerking upright, Loki gasped for air. Eyes blinking rapidly, he took in his surroundings. Recognition of the great library hit him. How many thousands of years had it been since they had become the Celestial Spirits? Loki could no longer recall as he yawned and scrubbed the sleep from his eyes. All he knew was that he was getting sick of the nightmare that had robbed him of his original life, and real hope for so very long. He had not dreamt of such things for centuries, but the nightmare was back ten fold.

 

For the first time since he became a Celestial Spirit, Reagaltiel/Loki felt a strong emotional draw to a human being that gave him real hope and joy. Lucy reminded him of the long dead Vraylinish on several levels. Loki was not going to let the first true light in centuries die young. Lucy had the strength to do the impossible if she lived long enough to learn her true abilities. For all Loki knew, Lucy could be Vraylinish’s latest reincarnation. He was not going to lose this chance to spend time with the reborn version of the woman he had once loved more than life.

 

Although Loki accepted that he had long ago ceased to be Reagaltiel, he still wished to see the miraculous happen twice. Lucy could provide such a miracle if she had the time to change the world as her predecessor before her. Of that much Loki was certain. Until he met Lucy Heartfilia, Loki had been empty inside. Now that his hope had been reborn, Loki feared his fragile gains would again be crushed under ancient despair.

 

“Why didn’t someone wake me up?”

 

“You’ve been doing this research the longest. Exhausted eyes miss details so it was wiser to let you cat nap, Leo.” Libra responded from a precarious perch halfway up the massive book case. Loki was so tired that he barely recalled when she had started helping them find details on the mystery illness Lucy had contracted. Having increased his energy shift to shore up Lucy, he was feeling the strain despite it only being a few hours by the Celestial World’s concept of time. A quick calculation reminded Loki that roughly two weeks had passed in Earthland.

 

“Has anyone found anything to cure Lucy yet?”

 

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t found anything useful. I’m so sorry for failing Lucy sama like this.” Aries answered.

 

“You’re trying your hardest to help her and I know Lucy will appreciate your efforts. We’ll figure out a way to get Lucy well.” Loki replied as he stretched in his seat, vertebrae cracking to realign.

 

Capricorn was frowning as he replaced a book, and pulled another from a shelf farther down the aisle. “I have only found the description of this same illness because of Lucy’s mother, Layla, dying from it. Layla’s the only other recorded case in this library. However, nobody was able to determine why Layla became so ill when she displayed the same symptoms. None of the Earthland physicians or healers were able to determine why her health failed so quickly. It is possible that nothing in this library can help us heal Lucy sama.”

 

“Keep looking and don’t give up! It has to be here somewhere!” Loki bellowed at his fellow spirits as his fists slammed into the table. “We’ve got to figure out how to cure Lucy before it’s too late!”

 

Crux floated down from his lofty perch near the top of the library’s vast collection. “We’re doing all we can to learn more about our Princess’s illness. To be very honest, I know this library better than all of you combined. Capricorn’s correct. The information isn’t in this part of the library. The only place none of us have investigated from bottom to top is the Contracts archive, and the Royal Archive where the Star Singer’s lineage books are kept.”

 

Loki abandoned his chair to prevent himself from breaking the furniture as his temper threatened to escape his tenuous control. Virgo walked into his line of sight and spoke. “The contracts archive isn’t going to have anything but lists of all the contracts we’ve held through the centuries. The Royal archive won’t be of any use because the bloodline records are from before we agreed that the Star Singers and Constellation temple lineages had to go into hiding to survive Zeref’s slaughter several centuries ago. It hasn’t gotten updated in centuries to protect everyone’s mortal family descendants.”

 

While pacing the length of the enclosed aisle, Loki spat. “Bloodlines are completely useless unless they reveal an ongoing defect. The Royal Archive doesn’t have anything but who begat who variety information. We’ve got to figure out why Lucy is getting so weak and sick all of a sudden. All we know right now is that the symptoms match what happened to her mother. Is there any other connection or similarity that we’re overlooking?”

 

“None that I am aware of. The illness seems hereditary. None of us are able to stop natural diseases that run within certain bloodlines, Leo. We cannot deny that this could be an illness that runs through her specific family due to the lack of information in this library. Lucy sama’s mother was the only other one to ever get these exact symptoms. Although I agree we should do all we can for Lucy sama, we must be prepared to lose her when the disease runs it’s course.” Capricorn lectured him with a sorrowful tone.

 

“Nothing is matching the poisons section either. I think we can rule that possibility out since I read everything twice over.” Scorpio growled from his place against a book case.

 

“We will figure out a way to save Lucy even if we haven’t found the answer . . . yet. Letting Lucy die so young is not acceptable. She’s done too much for all of us . . . including saving us when we got corrupted. Right now, Lucy is hurting because of Aquarius’s pseudo death. The least we can do is ease as much of her pain as possible, Damn it!” Loki growled as a hand raked through his hair.

 

“We all agree with you, big brother. Thinking to ease our Princess’s symptoms while we find the cure, I looked up medicines that might help. Several have come to my attention during this research mission. Perhaps they can help our Princess by slowing the spread of whatever ails her.” Virgo stepped closer and held out a stack of hand written notes.

 

Loke took the sheets as he blew out a harsh breath. “Thanks for these remedies. I think this is a good start. Can’t help but think we’ve missed something very important, and I can’t stand not knowing what the missing information is. Let’s keep searching for any clues that we may have overlooked. I’ll see if Ophiuchus will make these medications for Lucy. His Majesty might have some ideas about what is happening to Lucy also. So, I’m going to speak to him in case he may have an idea about how to solve this puzzle.”

 

Soft groans were heard, but none of the spirits actually complained. Everyone headed to various corners of the library to resume their research. Loke stomped toward the exit intent upon talking to their King, and tracking down the Spirit World’s resident medical expert.

 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dragons have an uncomfortable conference with the Ancient Creation Queen.  
> "dialog"  
> 'private thoughts'

Chapter 1:  

Staring at the glistening white wood tree rapidly growing in the center of the magma river flowing around his home needled Igneel’s pride. 

_'Sertatsie’s so damned demanding and impossible! None of us are capable of creating such living testaments to the ancient, one magic. Such magic was lost close to five millennia ago. Now she’s trying to order all us around as if she has the right because of her One magic knowledge! The knowledge was lost when almost all of the magical races became extinct. Only the most ancient dragons believed this kind of power and knowledge ever existed before she contacted us.’_

Smoke curled around his snout as Igneel continued to glare at the offensive tree that mocked him. He sought to distract his reeling mind from all that he had learned over the last day and a half of constant mental communication with the whole dragon race. He was too tired to continue listening to the bickering. His mind shied from the prophesies and conclusions. Igneel wanted to retreat to think after he ate and rested a bit. His mind wandered from the main debate as his eyes hung upon the image of the magically created tree that kept offending his sense of rightness.

_‘Trees aren’t meant to grow and thrive in rivers of lava without some type of barrier magic. Still, her blasted tree doesn’t have any barrier around it, and it’s growing at an impossible speed right in front of all our mind spheres. We all see this happening, and unless I find the way to stop this panic, the Ancient Guardian Queen is going to be collectively attacked by the anti human faction once they find her. We have no choice but accept that the ancient Creation Queen has awoken from her timeless sleep as prophesy said she would. Now that we know the truth, we have to do whatever is needed to keep the prison inviolate.’_

Sertatsie had proven herself to be the real Creation Dragon by creating impossible life forms that were verified by multiple dragons. As if the shock of her sudden mental appearance was not stressful enough, she had launched into a brutal, emergency meeting of the last one hundred dragons alive as if she still ruled them. Her power had flared through one hundred mind orbs simultaneously to unleash impossible things for each of them to touch and study within their own territories.

Each shimmering orb glowing before Igneel was another dragon’s thoughts. All of their remaining race had gotten the summons that had fallen into a disastrous gridlock because Sertatsie was simply overwhelming them all with fast paced explanations and horrifying memories of the past that none of them could fully grasp. Igneel only had created a single orb to link into the old female before she took over and linked him to all the other dragons, without his permission. Still, he knew everyone else saw his orb which he had only actively sent to Sertatsie’s location. Of all Sertatsie’s long distance creations, the tree in his front yard most flabbergasted them all as they shared images of his demanded confirmation of her authenticity.

Sertatsie had made her case, and shared memories to try to get them to cooperate. All pretense of dragon unity had collapsed the moment it became knowledge that humans were the living locks and chains that fed the seal upon the unspeakable evil trying to return. Human life force had kept the vile evil trapped for almost five thousand years, before any living dragon in this meeting was born. Nothing in Sertatsie’s arguments could sway the anti human faction once that part of ancient history came to light. Human hating dragons were too stubborn for their own good the Fire Dragon King decided with a fiery snort.

Igneel glared at the respectable collection of orbs floating before him as his tail tip lashed the innocent ground. Fear had taken control of many of their number, leading to constant bickering and insults hurled between the two dragon factions. Despite Sertatsie being the only dragon to survive multiple millennia, the anti human dragons continued to argue against having anything to do with human locks and chains that kept an unimaginably destructive sentience trapped inside a pocket dimension. They were coming up with every excuse imaginable to deny that there was a serious crisis developing under their collective noses. To Igneel, they were no better than fresh hatchlings in need of being tail thumped until they behaved in an acceptably mature fashion.

Granted, the ancient female had not communicated with anyone since Igneel’s great, great Grand Dam, and Sire’s births, at least two thousand years before he was even an egg. Even he felt she had a lot of nerve to suddenly show up and make demands after ignoring her own species for thousands of years. The Dragon Lore had proclaimed that she would only awaken from a Fairy induced magical slumber when the world was facing complete annihilation. All dragons knew their most ancient Queen would only return in an extreme emergency from the time they were hatchlings. However, hearing the actual legend’s voice was unsettling to say the least.

Witnessing her insane power was frightening. None of them wanted to accept that she was real and bringing bad news of this kind either. Only one hundred dragons still existed, scattered to the farthest reaches of the world to avoid human hunters. To Igneel’s thinking, any attempt to stop the crisis she described was not only impossible, it was tantamount to hurtling headlong into suicide if her descriptions and memories of the Abyss Lord of antiquity were even remotely true. They lacked numbers needed for such a fight. Many of the remaining dragons were too old to have enough stamina to even contribute much to such a ferocious war.

One thing was clear, their first queen’s wings, and left front leg were completely destroyed, her other fore leg damaged to the point she could not walk. Her body sported many semi fresh looking wounds that reeked of a wrongness the likes none of them had ever encountered. The evil power infecting her body was obviously dampened considerably as images flowed through her mental power orbs. Such balls of power currently linked all of the dragon race’s minds as one. She said the injuries came from the very monster she demanded that her many times removed grand children stop without fail. Unimaginable power was trying to awaken, and if Sertatsie’s still seeping wounds were any indicator, it was easy to understand how all the once plentiful magical, and immortal, races got butchered in a matter of days during their all out war to stop the Immortal Destroyer.

Out of the millions of beings who once lived, breathed, and hurled magic like water, only the smallest numbers, the youngest magical children, had survived the prison’s creation. Harder to believe was the role that humans had in the creation and maintenance of the prison. Now, everyone was struggling to handle news that the prison was about to be broken by the evil powers that existed within their world. Tempers were frayed, and dragons were never very logical during a panic.

According to Sertatsie, the last ancient children had done what they could to rebuild everything destroyed by a being rumored to have no solid body. The only good news was that some fighters had survived the war, and had entered enchanted, time suspended sleep before their kind became truly extinct. Those warriors vowed to prevent the return of the Abyss Lord after strengthening the Web of Life as best they could. Humans and dragons had been exempted from timeless sleep as they alone had fast enough reproductive abilities to safeguard the prison dimension’s chains and locks, the Star Singers who had vanished several hundred years ago thanks to Zeref’s meddling.

With the last handful of Fairy children, and other races immanent return at hand, a desperate last stand might be possible, but remained iffy. An energy being with intelligence was hell bent on destruction. From hat Sertatsie showed them, it seemed hard wired to return all creation to a state of nothingness to Igneel’s thinking. Such a menace was the last thing a hundred dragons, and a few dozen ancient immortals could stop without serious cooperation with all life, including the plentiful human mages.

Frustrated as he returned his attention to the snarling babble surrounding him, Igneel roared at the collective orbs drifting in his small clearing. “I am well aware that to prevent a second dragon war we all agreed to keep our snouts out of human affairs! None of us have interfered with humanity unless it was to break Acnologia as per our agreement. However, this is a crisis situation and not a human affair even if Star Singers are only born among humans. We must work together to prevent the Abyss Lord from getting loose a second time! We can’t . . .”

“. . . Nothing you say proves that the Abyss Lord’s prison will open any time soon, Ancient one. And you have no right to add your tainted, human loving opinions right now, Igneel.” Motherglare’s sphere interjected.

Sertatsie’s voice thrummed with a steady pulse of power. “The truth is what it is no matter your desire to hide, little Mother. Celestial Magic has been sealed by the Dark powers with the exception of the Star Singers as the Fairy Queen warned would happen. I know all of you were warned by your elders that this would happen once the majority of Star Singer blood lines were killed off by the puppet of the Abyss Lord. Each generation was told the World’s End prophesy that the Fairy High Queen proclaimed with her dying breath for a reason. Only the Star Singer bloodlines can still use the power you call Celestial magic because the astral chain links to the prison were not broken. Of the few remaining Star Singers, only two hold the Original Sacrificial Keys as far as we can determine. The Celestial Spirits who were once human remain instrumental in sealing the Abyss Lord’s destruction away. They selflessly destroyed their bodies and souls in their star power to give all of us the means to complete the light cage they created. Now their already taxed powers are the Star Singers last defense against dark mages since their existence has become a beacon. The mortal Singers’ deaths will throw open the prison door. What part of this do you not understand?”

“Humans are nothing like you have described them, Ancient Queen. They are mean spirited and destructive pests that need to be put in their place! They don’t deserve anything from us, especially our protection. The Celestial Spirits are an entirely different matter. I’m certain we can all agree they deserve any aide we dragons can give them since they no longer qualify as humans.” A male dragon snarled.

“Celestial Spirits are very altered humans who were instrumental in sealing away the Abyss Lord’s prison according to you, Ancient Queen. Is this correct?” Igneel recognized his son’s voice as Rhodonite questioned the Eldest Queen.

From his first clutch with Grandeeney, their eleventh son had earned his reputation for his obsession with gaining knowledge. The prime aged male had no fear of seeking knowledge from any place possible. At least one of Igneel’s elder children would seek a solution considering how much knowledge Rhodonite had amassed over the last three hundred and sixty years.

“Correct. It took the last of our combined power, mixed with their raw star force under the Phoenix’ guidance to create the pocket dimension. We split the dimension into two sections, the actual prison, and the Celestial Spirits new home realm. We were trying to give added security to those who agreed to be enslaved for all eternity as the guardians of the prison by merging their sentience into their constellations to keep the power flowing.”

“If the Celestial Spirits are still remotely humans, then they can rot for all I care. Humans are a plague on this world’s body that should be exterminated.” Another male snarled.

“How dare you disrespect the humans who were willing to throw away their bodies, and existence to insure that new generations would live?! Only Star Singer blood can maintain the prison of light that prevents the Abyss Lord from gaining access to any realm and killing all life. The Star Singers cannot harness their real power because it’s almost fully trapped in maintaining the pocket dimension’s Sixteen Temple Seals. The human locks can only tap leftover magic for their defense if they are attacked. If these remaining humans become extinct, all life will cease to exist, everywhere among the stars, starting with Earthland!”

Scissor Runner’s globe pulsed, displeasure dripping from his tone. “The humans have their precious Magic Guilds with abominations to protect their Star Singers. Let them sort out their own mess since the ones trying to open the prison are also human. I say we do no more than make the worthless pests aware of the situation they’ve all created. Or perhaps you wish us to destroy the fools among us who adore humans so much that they created abominations in the first place? Since you insist that we break our agreement to leave humans alone unless Acnologia is involved . . . should we also assume you likewise are a blind, senile fool, and human lover, Oh Ancient Queen?”

“Threats mean nothing to me you arrogant fledgling. Crippled as I am, I’m anything but defenseless. Come, and let us settle your little Alpha attitude. Your faction will learn how dangerous it is to provoke me once you die.”

“Scissor Runner makes a valid point, Ancient Queen. Humans have been doing all in their collective power to send the last of us into extinction like the other races. It is difficult to believe in them after having to fight for our very survival over the centuries.” A female voice entered the debate.

A resigned snort filled the tense air. Sertatsie answered the younger female’s comment after several moments of silence. “We are well aware that the Abyss Lord has gained control of numerous humans over the millenniums. However, that said, none of you are willing to understand that they are the Abyss Lord’s puppets, not random humans, that have caused the problems you’ve endured.”

“So humans get a free pass to attack and slaughter our hatchlings and fledglings because you’ve decided to excuse them without fail? Do you believe that excuse is any way to prove yourself one of us, Ancient Queen?”

Igneel’s tail whipped ever faster as he tried to contain his rage. Sertatsie was by far be the oldest among them, yet Scissor Runner’s condescending tone made his fangs ache to rip his old opponent’s throat out. Igneel detested the constant disrespect shown their first queen, even if he also found her somewhat irritating. Sertatsie’s legendary wisdom had again failed to gain any concessions from the anti human faction.

Grandeeney’s orb flared as she spoke her mind. “Of all the magical races who once ruled this world, we dragons alone retain a viable breeding number. However, our current numbers are too few to stop the Abyss Lord if we fail to protect the last Star Singers. This world will be destroyed unless everyone stops sulking! At least some of us had the fore thought to teach human children enough of our magic to help protect the remnant Singers!”

Igneel was fed up with this endless circle of bickering. “Enough! We cannot ignore the Fairy Prophesy which seems to be coming true.” He growled deep in his chest before continuing, “We’ll tell the humans of the prophesy, and make it clear that the last remaining Celestial Mages are the Star Singers. Once they know that the Singers are the living locks, I’m certain the human guilds will protect them at all costs. From there, we will wait to see how well the humans handle things. We will only interfere if the Light guilds cannot stop their dark mages from jeopardizing the sixteen prison seals. Is that an acceptable compromise?”

Atlas Flame’s reddish gold sphere flared. “What about Natsu, and the other dragon children? Are we to forsake all the human sons and daughters who adore us as their family just to avoid fighting among ourselves, Igneel?”

“I can only offer such a compromise because I believe in my adopted son’s strength and determination to protect all life. Natsu’s the reason that you’re alive today as I recall. Because he changed your mind about humans, you were in hiding during Acnologia’s final rampage. I choose to believe in all my allies children also. They each have the pride and determination of us dragons. They’ll successfully protect all the Star Singers once they locate them.” Igneel answered.

Skiadrum’s blackish blue sphere pulsed. “Rogue thinks he killed me as per my command, so I dare not contact him. Yet, through touching his mind, I’ve noticed that there are strange new dragon slayers that the humans are creating without us. They weren’t created through direct contact, and training. It seems humans can use dragon power trapped in gems implanted within their bodies. Even Rogue has accepted such a gem into his body to increase his magic strength. Perhaps we who have human children should create more such gems for our children to increase their power?”

Another darker orb pulsed with harsh wheezing draconic laughter. “I was pulled through that time gate to face your wimpy little slayer, Skiadrum. None of your little abominations, including those who have gem implants, are capable of protecting the Star Singers. We should gather the important enough little pests up, and scatter them in isolated locations across this world to preserve the sixteen seals by ourselves.”

Atlas snorted with heavy contempt. “Funny that you brought that up, Dark Dagastolia. Considering I was there, I know first hand what my nephew can do when angry enough. He damaged Motherglare’s hide, and even knocked her out after I got him airborne so he could fight that half trained excuse of a Dragon Master that Motherglare was fawning over. So much for her human hating if you ask me.”

“For your information I never stopped hating humans. If anything I hate them far more than before thanks to being ensorcelled by that Dragon Master. I lost half of my children because of those bloody humans also!”

“Well, had you not attacked the humans, Natsu would never have pounded your scales into powder. He still loves us, and it made him very unhappy to fight us. At least I know Natsu proved his strength beyond doubt to you, Motherglare. Do you really think he would fail to protect any Star Singer in his care after having faced off with him?” Atlas demanded.

“I fear that Igneel’s brat will be transformed sooner instead of later. Placing a Star Singer in his care could well lead young Natsu down the pathway that destroys any hold he has upon his power and sanity.” Motherglare snarled.

The long silent rock dragon spoke in a thoughtful tone. “Zirconis admitted right after our return to our correct time that the pair of half trained slayers he faced did enough damage to make them a serious problem if they ever master our magic. If the current Dragon Slayers, including the false ones, received advanced training from any of us, they could very well prevent the Abyss Lord from getting free by being a force capable of stopping the Abyss Lord’s puppets. Isn’t that the goal we can all agree upon, if nothing else?”

“Wonderful. Now you fools want us to help create a small army of Acnologias while we’re at it!” Dark dragon Dagastolia’s orb crackled.

“My dear nephew would never act like Acnologia. Natsu isn’t weak willed, or easily corrupted like that fool was when he was still a human. Igneel chose well when he chose to raise Natsu, and I won’t tolerate you insulting our young fire slayer.” Atlas roared as flames shot out of his orb. “If anything, Natsu would make a wonderful edition to dragon kind if the power ever does force the transformation.”

Sertatsie’s orb flared with such blinding light that all the orbs were lost in rainbow hued brilliance. “Silence, whelps! I dare say the lot of you are scarce worth my time! If this is how you wish to act, so be it! I’ll awaken the rest of the Elysian Guard to do what must be done. The new dragon kind cannot find the courage to set aside petty bickering for the greater good so it shall fall to those of us who have real courage it seems. Besides, if this ongoing argument is only due to some crackbrained fear of the humans transforming into dragons, I have sleeping Fairy companions who can easily prevent that outcome!”

Soft murmurs gained volume as the brilliance eased, allowing communication between the arguing factions to resume. “How can your Fairy companions stop the transformation, Ancient Queen?” A quieter female asked before Igneel had a chance.

“So, you have even forgotten the Fairy race’s most basic powers it seems. I’ll have to explain so you can understand. I’m quite certain that it is possible to use Fairy Soul Binding on powerful Dragon Slayers. Soul Binding can be done between them and someone who has their complimentary magic frequency, perhaps even a Star Singer. Fairies have always soul bonded their mates to bear children. In fact, they have bonded every race, including select humans during their reign in this world. Half bloods like She Wolf were fairly common before the Abyss Lord. Many Bane Warrior survivors can use ancient Fairy magic and know precisely how to bind souls to insure that no such transformations can happen to your Dragon Slayers.”

“We learned the lore claiming that high born fairies used powerful magical bonding so they could have children, Sertatsie. Still, I fail to see how your idea can prevent a Dragon Slayer from falling victim to their own power going berserk and transforming them if they ever lose control.” Igneel grumbled at the ancient’s sphere.

“Soul Binding would prevent the dragon power from transforming the Slayer’s body because the of instinctive power balancing that happens. If a Star Singer were compatible all the better because the berserk power would be drained to maintain the Abyss Lord’s prison. In fact I insist on seeing if Star Singers are compatible first because Soul Binding can be set up to automatically bleed off such power before it can manifest as physical changes. The Soul bond automatically shifts and balances power to strengthen the one who most needs the influx. Star Singers are trapped in a constant, instinctive battle to maintain their specific astral chain even if they don’t know they have one. Furthermore, soul binding should insure a new generation of much stronger Star Singers getting born. Never forget that the Star Singers have always been human. The few left must be saved, yet kept among humans if only because their deaths, especially without offspring, guarantees the Abyss Lord’s freedom.”

Metalicana broke his silence. “Do our children have any say in whom they will be magically soul bound to in this scheme of yours, Sertatsie?”

“Only if the Star Singer has a compatible power frequency to their own can such a binding to take place. At this time, I don’t know the condition of any of the Star Singers so cannot get to them. I’ll have Nadhasti open a gate to send me to their location once one of you youngsters find the Singers for me. We know the two strongest have the Sacrificial keys. Find them first, and call me. From there, my allies can determine their soul song frequencies, and match up power and soul frequencies between Slayers and Singers, or other magic users who compliment them. Unless it involves an extreme emergency, I will gladly insure your Slayers have a choice of accepting or rejecting any compatible Soul Bond once they know the importance of such a measure.”

Metalicana snorted in disgust. “Why do I have the feeling that this plan of yours is going to go very wrong, Sertatsie?”

Igneel agreed with the taciturn, and often self absorbed iron dragon but held his tongue. “So which of us is going to the Fairy Tail Guild? Three of us have children residing there so it is the logical place to hand over information to humanity.”

Metalicana startled him. “I’ll do it. I’m the closest to Magnolia City.”

Grandeeney chuckled. “Have a nice reunion with your son. Please tell my darling Wendy that I think of her often.”

“What’s in it for me, Grandeeney?”

“Whatever do you desire that I possess, Metalicana?”

“Good question. Let me think about it, and get back to you.”

“Of course. I’ll be waiting.”

“I suppose you have some sappy message for that brat of yours also, Igneel.” Metalicana grumbled.

“No. Natsu hears me whenever I choose to mind speak with him. Since you will be visiting your son, please have them inform any other Dragon Slayers of the situation while you are there. It would be most efficient if we can collect all the Slayers and Singers in one location at this point. Having to repeat ourselves a few dozen times will only wear on all of our nerves, plus waste valuable time.”

Another torrent of muttering and growling filed the air surrounding Igneel. It was obvious that the others found his comment about mind speaking with Natsu unsettling. Although it was a rare human that could hear their dragon parent’s thoughts long distance, Igneel’s bond with Natsu had remained strong enough in the lad’s heart for him to stay in touch. It was yet another thing that set his adopted son apart from the other children. Natsu’s pure heart and powerful instincts made him much more dragon than the other Slayers. Igneel could only hope that the female he might be bound to if Sertatsie got her way was the one he had sensed that Natsu’s heart adored.

“Hrumph, fine. I’m sure my brat can manage that much. I’m off to warn the humans about this mess before the Star Singers get killed.” The metallic hued ball vanished.

“Seems we must have a temporary truce with the humans until this crisis is behind us.” Motherglare spoke into the stillness.

“Regrettable, but it may become necessary if certain dragons’ stupid abominations screw up. We cannot lose the Star Singers to dark mage hands at this point.”

Igneel mentally chuckled at the depressed anti human faction leader’s voice. Scissor Runner would never change his mind without being coerced by very extreme situations. All of them knew that this was such an extreme. Orbs winked out one after the next as Igneel withdrew his own thought projection from Sertatsie’s control. They had managed a tentative consensus. It was enough for the moment.

The Fire King stretched his wings, and body after crouching for so long focused upon projecting his thoughts. Igneel built a mental picture of his adopted son, but found he could not keep the mental image clear enough to alert his Slayer of Metalicana’s impending visit. Too much of the dragon’s magic was expended during the long conference.

A meal and nap were in order Igneel decided. Leaping into the air with a snap of massive wings, the red dragon sheered to the left and caught several hot updrafts rising from the lava streams below. The forest at the foot of his high range plateau would supply the meat he needed to sate his hunger. Aware of numerous caverns along this particular volcanic chain, Igneel decided to begin his journey after he took a replenishing nap.

Swooping down upon a herd of giant, long haired oxen that had wandered to the river for a drink, Igneel chose a large bull for his meal. Wheeling in the sky above the panicking herd, Igneel lengthened out his hind legs, talons extending, wings tucked tight against his hide. Whipping his body around, Igneel struck hard and fast, claws sinking into the thick hide of the bull’s neck and back as his body flashed past. With a hard clenching of his claws, and a hard series of wing beats to regain altitude, Igneel felt the animal’s spine shatter. A clean kill was always best. It prevented the meat from souring from the animal’s struggles from fear. Satisfied with his hunt, the fire dragon climbed higher and soared to a cliff that would accommodate his size, and settled in to eat.

As he tore strips of meat from the carcass, his mind considered the future. _‘Perhaps Natsu can change more of the anti human faction’s collective opinion about humans as this crisis gets resolved. He’s nothing like Acnologia. It’s unfortunate that Acnologia has taught Scissor Runner, and the rest of the anti human faction such a deep hatred of humans. Acnologia alone should have to answer for their blind hatred.’_

Scissor Runner was among the few dragons with a hotter temper than himself, and Igneel knew it. The agony of losing his first mate and their clutch before it hatched had robbed Scissor Runner of his sanity for almost two hundred years. Only after their hatchlings left the nest did the mind merge of the dragon parents soften, and release the mated pair to continue with their preferred solitary lives.

Igneel could not fault the other male for resenting Dragon Slayers after Acnologia killed his mate and defenseless eggs. Brooding mothers would never abandon their unborn as their instincts were overwhelming during the clutching stage. Males brought food and comfort to their brooding mates, and protected their territory from unwelcome interlopers until their hatchlings were capable of flight. Once flight was achieved, the mated pair began to lose the strong mental connection. The connection weakened steadily as the young got closer to seeking their own territories.

No Dragon Slayer had ever broken the iron clad law to leave all brooding females and clutches alone, with the exception of Acnologia. Although he had beaten the fool’s draconic form into a bloody mess several months before, Igneel had not killed the transformed dragon at the time of his victory. He had realized that the transformed Slayer was as much a victim of the Dragon Wars as Scissor Runner. He had seen too much of the crazed memories trapped in Acnologia’s mind during their fierce aerial battle.

Out of control power created by the burning rage over feeling his own brooding human mate’s death had driven Acnologia as insane as Scissor Runner was once temporarily driven. One of their number had first broken the unbreakable law to never attack a mated, brooding female. In retaliation Acnologia began to systematically hunt down brooding females and clutches. Unlike Scissor Runner, who was able to recover once the breeding cycle ended, it seemed as if Acnologia had never gained relief from the twisting emptiness and unbearable loss. It made Igneel wonder about the price all humans infused with dragon magic possibly paid without their dragon parents knowledge.

The biggest difference between humans who used dragon magic, and true dragons was the seeming inability of the humans to have different mates throughout their lives. True dragons sought mates roughly every two centuries. Once they raised their young, they parted ways. Some dragons even chose to mate with the same partner if they were unusually well matched in temperament. He had always gone to Grandeney’s territory when it was time to answer the mating call because she was best able to deal with his temper. They had produced two clutches and raised them together in true harmony.

Unlike himself, Natsu probably only had enough time to accept one female before his life ended, unless he drew out too much power and transformed into a true dragon. Then again, humans also had a strange habit of going into heat every time their young got old enough to begin eating solid foods, or close to that point. Such ongoing breeding opened another possibility for why a single breeding cycle existed for the human slayers.

Could the reason for a single life span mating cycle among human Dragon Slayers be due to the human tendency toward ongoing breeding before their young had the opportunity to become independent? Constant heat due to the lack of numbers for each hatching could explain everything about why the protective mental link did not disappear once a mate was chosen. If the Slayer was always locked into an ongoing cycle of raising various aged young, they never had the chance for their magic to erode the protection mechanism dragon magic created within them. The infused dragon power had never unlocked the human mind melding with a mate as far as any dragon had witnessed.

However, if Acnologia was actually normal for all human Slayers, albeit transformed, Natsu would always remain locked into the single mating cycle, even if his human mate died before bearing any young. In such a case, avoiding a human mate was the only way for Natsu to protect himself from experiencing an unspeakable nightmare of a lifelong locked mating cycle without relief.

Worst of all, the dragon power did not seem to let go until death claimed the Slayer, no matter their physical form if Acnologia was a normal Slayer. If everything Igneel feared was true of all humans with dragon power, then Acnologia’s suffering would only end with his death. Still, Igneel felt he needed to keep the transformed Slayer alive in order to discover the real truth of the matter. If, in fact, it took the full span of the short human life to complete a single cycle of mated pairs, all their adopted humans could very well suffer the same grim fate as Acnologia. Igneel believed he owed it to all the humans who had been raised by himself and fellow dragons to unravel the mystery.

Humans lived slightly longer than a century. Yet, Acnologia was almost four hundred years old, and had once been human. If Zeref’s corrupting power was removed from his body, would the long dormant link finally break, bringing the transformed dragon relief, and true sanity? Igneel felt that it was a worthy experiment to pursue if only for the other human Slayers’ long term welfare. However, finding the spell needed had been a problem he and Grandeeney had yet to overcome.

Now, Igneel had to consider the potential problem of human mages creating artificial dragon slayers. With the new information, Igneel could not help but wonder how such humans were affected by dragon gem implants. Would they also be subject to the same problems of the mild mind meld to a single mate for their short lives? Or did the gems somehow lessen the mind meld that natural dragon energy created between mates? In the case of Skiadrum’s adopted son, did his implanted dragon gem break the Slayer out of a single lifelong mating cycle, or make the single cycle more pronounced? It would be worth asking the humans who Natsu valued most to look into the matter for dragon kind he decided.

Tossing aside the last of the bones he had gnawed clean, Igneel dropped his head between his forelegs and closed his eyes. It was time to sleep and regain his full strength for the long flight ahead of him.

 


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Metalicana brings news to Fairy Tail guild about what is happening and learns that Lucy Heartfilia has a serious illness afflicting her.

CHAPTER 2

Bedlam descended upon Magnolia during the midday shopping period. Metalicana’s massive shadow raced across the streets, and slithered up buildings as he glided past. The sudden appearance of his shadow lifted every human eye toward the sky. Screams rent the air as people identified that he was spiraling in lazy circles above their heads. Street vendors and customers alike fled from all open spaces in a blind panic.

Metalicana found the howls of terror, and panicked scurrying of the ant sized humans below amusing as he tried to determine his adopted son’s location based upon the wispy threads of scent reaching his keen nose. So far he was having difficulty sorting through the sheer number of smells warring for his attention. Humans really did like to stink up their environment the dragon decided. Metalicana snorted over a particularly unpleasant whiff of garbage that his nose had the misfortune of finding.

The metal dragon rumbled deep in his chest, thinking about his mission. _‘Why did Gajeel decide to live among so many people? Things would be so much easier if my fledgling had sense enough to live in the wilds where he could be easily found.’_

The need to get higher so he could do another glide across the next section of the city forced Metalicana to beat his wings in rapid succession. Debris swirled, somewhat obscuring his bird’s eye view of the streets below as he climbed higher. 

The dragon’s one wing caught a small warm updraft. It was nowhere near the strength needed to ease the strain upon overextended wings, but Metalicana could still use it to his advantage. The metal dragon snarled, mind spewing a vow that nothing would ever again convince him to fly three days straight, including the world coming to a grisly demise, as vicious pain shot down the length of his left mid-line wing bones. He had to land, or risk crushing buildings, and breaking his wings and limbs, due to increasing muscle spasms. Seeing a small clearing, Metalicana swooped in for a landing. He tucked his wings to drop fast toward the grass below, only shifting the tilt of his wings open enough to hard land, rearing back on his hind quarters with front legs thrust outward to slide to an abrupt halt. He snapped his wings closed as Metalicana’s head turned to survey the scene before him.

Shrieks and pounding feet grew in volume as small humans scattered at top speed. The chaos entertained Metalicana as his amused gaze swept in all directions. The dragon noted a haphazard array of odd human creations dumped on the grass during the mass exodus. Most of the humans in the small clearing seemed to be children unless he had forgotten the general size of the creatures. It was disappointing that Gajeel had been unable to teach these silly humans that not all dragons were their enemies. It was yet another thing he would have to talk to his adopted fledgling about when he managed to find him.

Stretching his neck, the old dragon tried to filter Gajeel’s scent from the fear tainted majority filling his nose. He finally caught a recognizable trace flowing on a slight north-westerly breeze. Ducking under a pair of overhanging tree branches that obscured his path, the large dragon strolled forward, keeping his nose busy tracking Gajeel. His head continued to twitch and turn as Metalicana caught every scent, moving forward with greater confidence despite his dislike of confining spaces presented by narrow human streets. He was closing on Gajeel according to his nose. The scent was stronger with each short tease of that specific faint breeze. A surge of pleasure flowed through Metalicana’s system at the prospect of seeing how much his human fledgling had grown.

It had been years since Metalicana was coerced into making that stupid agreement to leave all humans alone. All pro human dragons had agreed that it was necessary to prevent a second dragon war. All of the trouble was caused by Weisslogia making his adopted fledgling assist in his suicide. Such a foolish action had forced Metalicana, Igneel, and Grandeeney to abandon their small human fledglings to the mercy of other humans without so much as a goodbye.

The anti human dragons had used Weisslogia’s staged death as a basis to declare war on the humans, unless all dragons went into exile at the farthest reaches from human habitation. Along with the others, Metalicana had agreed, and left. The parting had happened long before Metalicana had become bored with his human fledgling’s inexplicable antics. All dragons who had taken human children were forced into a corner to protect their adopted sons and daughters, so Metalicana was not alone in his simmering resentment. All of the drama and pressure had stemmed from a single, sick old fool’s stupid decision to end his life by coercing his Slayer to do all the dirty work of killing him.

Metalicana snorted as he squeezed his broad chest into a narrower roadway trying to get to Gajeel. His scales were abrading both sides’ buildings, and would most likely end in the buildings getting damaged. It would take a bit of maneuvering to get his haunches around the corner.

“Silly humans really need to spread out their buildings more,” Metalicana grumbled.

The dragon’s right eye picked up motion so he swung his head to settle on a small group of humans charging toward him.

_Guess I could ask for my fledgling to be brought to me before I get irreversibly stuck between these fragile human buildings. If I break their puny buildings, the humans will never stop shrieking. Much as I hate the idea of asking anything of a human, I don’t have the time to waste on my normal way of dealing with things. We have to find the Star Singers and get them to safety.’_

He cocked his head as he studied the small group racing toward him. Dropping his nictitating membrane to see fully, Metalicana’s nose told him beyond doubt that it was Gajeel and a pink haired, shorter male in the front. A rather large, pale haired male and a blue haired female were racing close behind them. A sibilant purr escaped the dragon’s throat as his nose and eyes took in the much bigger version of his adopted fledgling.

Smirking in pleasure, Metalicana roared a greeting to his long missed fledgling. “About time you showed yourself! Why can’t you live in a sensible place where I don’t have to sort through countless reeking smells to track you down when needed?”

“Metalicana, what the fuck are you doing here? Don’t you realize that you’re scaring the shit out of this city’s population?” Gajeel roared right back with his fist upraised as if he thought he was finally big enough to hit his father.

“Would you rather I left you to die instead of bringing you a much needed warning, fledgling?” He bellowed as his nose dropped close to the ground, fangs shining in a draconian grin.

Skidding to a stop, Gajeel stared at him with a frown. “What are you talking about, dad?”

“An ancient troublemaker is getting help from many dark human mages to escape his prison, fledgling. If the nightmare does get loose, there aren’t enough of us to stop him from killing all life in this world the way he wishes.”

The pink haired male scrubbed the back of his head as he blinked up at Metalicana with a huge grin on his face. His voice was fast, and driven as he began chattering. “So you’re Metalicana, right? Awesome that I get to meet Gajeel’s pops. Hey, have you seen Igneel recently? Is he okay? How about Wendy’s dragon, Grandeeney? Oh, and why did you all vanish on the same day?”

With a heavy sigh, Gajeel drove his fist down into the hyper active male’s skull to shut him up. “Not now, Ash Brains. We need to get Metalicana out of here before the City Council demands that the king disband the Guild because of my stupid parent!”

The rather bulky blond man grabbed the shorter, pink maned male in a head lock and snarled his own reprimand. “It won’t kill you to wait, Flame Brain. A dragon seems to be taking the time to warn us about something big, so you need to shut up and let him get on with it. Got it?”

“Where will you guys go? I’ll go tell Master that we have an important visitor whom he needs to meet.” The small blue haired female grabbed Gajeel’s sleeve as she spoke.

Comprehension flashed in Metalicana’s head and a sparkle glinted in his eyes. “Well, you must be Grandeeney’s fledgling. Wendy isn’t it?” The dragon asked with a soft wheeze of humor.

The small female grinned with a snappy nod of her head. “Hello, Metalicana-sama. Is Grandeeney well?”

A rumble rose up from his chest. “Both Igneel and Grandeeney are well despite being furious with the anti human dragon faction. They both send their regards and love. However, it is not time for discussing family. Dangerous things are happening, and I must insure all Dragon Slayers and your allies are prepared for their quests.”

“Quests?” The pink haired fledgling’s eyes lit with inner fire as he repeated the single word.

“Not now, Idiot! We gotta get Metalicana out of town before things get out of control! Can you back out to end of this street and back into the park, Dad?”

“My home is in a clearing not far from the park so we can meet with Gramps there.” Igneel’s fledgling bellowed as he pumped his arm in the air. “Until Gramps arrives, you can explain why all of our parents vanished.”

“Forget it! After we know what this warning is about, you can all get the details about your adopted father. It would be damned rude to make Gajeel’s dragon keep repeating himself. I’m sure Wendy would appreciate hearing about what happened to her dragon also, or have you already forgotten about her, moron?” The scar faced, bulkier man barked.

Wendy blinked a few times as the smaller Natsu began throwing his fists at the much larger man who was denying him his way. The petite girl child shrugged and headed at a flat run in the direction from which they had come. Watching as the two males fought right under his nose, Metalicana could not help but give Gajeel a Draconic grin as his son shook his head at the antics of his friends.

“Never mind Natsu, Dad. He only has eating, sleeping, and fighting contained in that piss poor excuse of a brain most of the time. He gives all new meaning to the word dense some days.”

“Hey, metal head, take that back!” Igneel’s feisty fledgling shouted as he ducked under the larger man’s arm and shot fire magic at Gajeel.

In a matter of moments the trio were in an all out brawl. The three males slammed into a wall. The structure began to concave under their combined weight and power which would no doubt be blamed on himself the old dragon realized. Flinging the other two off of his body, the bulkier male began crackling with lightning. Entertaining as he found the situation, Metalicana knew that the hot heads needed to be stopped immediately. He slammed one forefoot over the pair who were reeling toward the middle of the street. His other forefoot caged the electricity clad male and pushed him flat a few steps from the damaged building.

“I was under the impression that I’m supposed to be escorted from the area before the other humans panic. So, show me the way back out of this narrow and confining place. You can all play to your hearts’ content after getting me free of these constricting buildings!” Metalicana snarled at the trio of squirming males.

Once the pair of dragon raised males settled down, Metalicana removed his heavy clawed foot to let them stand. The lone male beneath his other claws extended paw continued to fight against his metal scales which did nothing more than annoy Metalicana. He could not recall any of the four living lightning dragons having trained a human Slayer, so it was possible that this one was one of the artificial ones which had been mentioned during the dragon conference.

Gajeel walked over to the struggling male’s position, leaned over to look between Metalicana's finger joints while barking in a harsh tone, “Knock it off, Laxus. Metalicana won’t let you up until you stop fighting even if you manage to do damage. Far as my Dad’s concerned, we’re all acting like fresh hatchlings so he’s dealing with us the same as he would any other newborn brat. Pin us until we’re worn out enough to behave like reasonable children is how any prime aged, or elder dragon would respond to our brawling right now.”

A muffled torrent of human curses drifted up from beneath his forefoot. At least the biggest male was no longer trying to shock him, nor pounding on his palm. Satisfied that the third fledgling had learned his lesson, Metalicana lifted his front talons and allowed the last one to stand. Struggling for several moments, the dragon managed to straighten his legs to attain his full height in spite of the abraded spots on both his shoulders. He turned his snout in his adopted son’s direction. “So lead me out of this blasted narrow place already.”

“Fine, Dad. Yeesh, you’re always so damned impatient. I’ll have to be your eyes as we back you out of this street I suppose.” His fledgling quickly slipped beneath his chest, and trotted beneath his stomach to slide out from underneath his body.

Metalicana felt his fledgling grab onto his tail and start tugging. With a growl, and a snort, he jerked his massive body backward with a loud scraping noise coming from the buildings. He took in a deep breath once free of the previously constricting space. Irritated by the fact his tail was being tugged, Metalicana flicked the appendage up and twisted his head back to glare at his fledgling who should have known better. “Is there are reason you think you can yank on my tail?”

“I’m just trying to guide you, damn it! It isn’t like you can see the ground clearly to back up safely any other way.”

His fledgling actually made a reasonable point. Metalicana could not see the debris on the ground behind himself in such close confines. Nor had Metalicana gotten a chance to teach Gajeel dragon vision merge before getting forced to abandon his very young Slayer. “Agreed. However, there is a more dignified way to go about this, fledgling!”

“Oh, and how do you figure that, Dad?” Gajeel asked as he dropped onto his back, and trotted along his spine to face him.

“Dragon vision merge comes to mind. It’s easy enough to use, and effectively gives us both extra eyes to see from all angles.”

Before Gajeel could respond, Igneel’s fledgling was laughing as he landed beside Gajeel. “I know how to do that. It was one of the first spells Igneel taught me. I’ll be happy to be your extra eyes, Uncle.”

The pink haired Slayer’s palm landed between Metalicana’s eyes, a familiar warm tingle asking for permission to enter his thoughts. Curiosity got the better of him so Metalicana opened his mind. Immediately he saw his own eyes from the boy’s perspective. He wheezed a draconic chuckle as the grinning fledgling’s emotions washed through him. Igneel’s Slayer absolutely adored all dragons. The second thing that flashed into his awareness was how powerful this youngster’s instincts were overall. In a flash the young Slayer was behind him showing him the way as Gajeel frowned in obvious irritation.

“Don’t be so glum, fledgling. I’ll teach you as soon as we are out of this city. I always intended to teach you the spell, but never had a chance to do so. It can be disorienting if you’ve never shared sight before, so this works to everyone’s benefit.”

A sharp nod was his son’s only response as Gajeel followed his human friend onto the ground. It took several minutes, and Gajeel arguing with what Natsu’s mind identified as Rune Knights to get Metalicana liberated from the constricting street. Whirling once his shoulders were free, Metalicana shook off the mild cramping that had started to build in his hind quarters. He had maintained his determination not to destroy buildings since he did need to remain on good terms with the humans for the moment. It had been a while since he had pushed his patience quite so far, but considering the Slayers had gotten the Rune Knights calmed down, Metalicana supposed it was worth the sting to his pride.

“Shall I presume that a representative from you knights will also be involved with hearing the news I have brought to your kind?” Metalicana demanded as he stood in the small clearing he had landed in earlier.

One of the darker haired men stepped forward and gave him a sketchy bow. “I will be honored to listen to your news, Mighty Metalicana. My name is Dorenbolt, and I am an officer of the Rune Knights who answers to His Majesty, Toma E. Fiore, our King.”

“Excellent news. I believe his bloodline is one of the remaining Star Singer Lineages that are in grave danger. The Abyss Lord’s little puppet seems to have a lot of control over all the dark magic using wretches that have been spawned in recent centuries.” Metalicana spoke as he began to head through the park at a leisurely pace. “Hurry up, Fledglings. I have no idea where I’m supposed to meet your guild master.”

“My place is this way, Uncle.” Igneel’s boy hopped from foot to foot in front of his snout with a huge display of tiny teeth. The boy’s emotions and instincts were fused into a bundle of genuine love and happiness much to the Metal dragon’s surprise. Atlas Flame had mentioned being given the honorific of uncle, and it seemed the impertinent child assumed he could adopt all dragons without considering their power types. Igneel needed to be warned that his fledgling had no concept of consequences. So far this group of humans, which his fledgling had found, were proving quite capable of amusing him if nothing else.

“I’m not a fire dragon, Fledgling. Atlas Flame is an acceptable uncle to you, but I am not. It was expedient to share vision to get me out of that blasted confining city, but that is no longer needed either.” Metalicana grumbled, breaking the vision merge as he followed the carefree bundle of roiling instinct.

Natsu laughed as his hands laced behind his head, continuing toward the tree line. “Glad I could help you get unstuck. I still think it’s okay to call you Uncle because Gajeel is part of my Fairy Tail family. You’re his dad, so that makes you my uncle too.”

Gajeel snorted and released a short growl of irritation. “Like I said before, Flame Brain is an idiot, Dad. I’ll kick his ass later so you don’t have to waste time on him. I just need to wait until Dorenbolt’s gone. I’ve gotta protect Fairy Tail so I can keep eating.”

Gajeel’s sour expression coupled with the strange conversation added to Metalicana’s amusement. “Is this Fairy Tail something other than a Magic Guild?”

The biggest of the trio of Slayers responded from his other side. “My grandfather is the current Guild Master. His name is Makarov Dreyer. He always says that he considers every member of our guild to be his children. He kind of insists that we all treat each other as siblings. Dumb ass takes my grandfather’s words at face value, so can be really obnoxious, Metalicana-sama.”

Igneel’s fledgling had felt anything but human to the metal dragon when they shared the vision merge. Pondering the oddity he had felt, he also weighed the increasing information about Igneel’s fledgling which the artificial Slayer divulged. Combined with things he gleaned during their short vision merge, Metalicana was getting a mental image of the pink haired Dragon Slayer. Metalicana had sensed how hard Igneel’s fledgling was fighting to keep his instincts in check.

The Fire dragon fledgling’s iron will was strained almost to the limit of his thinking processes, or so it had felt to Metalicana. The things said by the other two Slayers added to the impression that Igneel’s youngster was fighting an exhausting mental battle that should not be happening. Why was Igneel’s fledgling so focused on curbing the one thing that set Dragon Slayers apart from all other humans, and gave them great power? Why was young Natsu strangling his unusually sharp instincts so hard? Was he avoiding the use of the element within his being that increased his dragon power to curb a physical transformation already? His energy did not strike Metalicana as being vast enough to pose any such threat. Still, the pink haired human did seem to be overflowing normal energy, and was completely incapable of staying motionless. Perhaps he thought curbing his instincts would lower the amount of regular energy his system naturally produced?

The dragon glanced a small house with a tree growing out of the near facing corner of the structure between other trees. Although Metalicana was no expert on human dwellings, this one appeared to be on the verge of collapse where the tree’s branches broke through the side and roof.

As the pink haired fledgling whirled to stand in front of the rickety structure, his teeth were again gleaming in a huge grin. Metalicana was startled as Gajeel suddenly grabbed the smaller Slayer’s arm. “Flame brain, how’s Bunny girl doing? Is she feeling any better yet? It’s been a couple weeks since she caught that weird cold.”

The grin was gone in an instant as the pink haired boy’s face drained of color. “Shit, I got side tracked when you guys started screaming about a dragon attacking the city. I forgot that Luce told me to go get Wendy for her because she was having chest pains that were giving her trouble breathing.”

“How the fuck can you forget to mention something that important, moron?” Gajeel screamed with genuine fury.

“Considering how much damage a dragon can do to a city, I thought making sure the one supposedly attacking Magnolia never got anywhere near Lucy’s place! It was a little more important to keep her from getting crushed or burned to a cinder, Metal Headed Freak! Fuck! I still gotta grab Wendy and see if old lady Porlyusica has something to help Luce breathe easier.”

Something Sertatsie had said during the dragon convention rose to the forefront of Metalicana’s mind. “Would this ill friend happen to be what your kind call a Celestial Mage by any chance, Fledglings?”

“Huh? How did you know Bunny girl was a Celestial Mage, Dad?”

“Sertatsie’s warning may have come too late. I’m going to link our minds, and you’re going to get to your sick friend as fast as you can. If she’s glowing and phantom chains are coming out of her torso, we have less than fifteen minutes to throw her into full stasis.” Metalicana’s tone brooked no arguments.

Head dropping so that his eyes were level with Gajeel’s, Metalicana thrust his powerful thoughts into Gajeel’s mind, aligning their thoughts and magic. “Don’t fight me or my power if I have to use your body to gain enough time to get the female’s core stabilized! You have to trust me without fail, and let me do what has to be done if she’s glowing or you see the chains. Run like you’ve never run before or we may all die if this is one of the two mages that hold the keys to keeping the Abyss Lord imprisoned! Do you understand me?”

Gajeel’s eyes widened dramatically as Metalicana allowed the truth to flow into his son’s mind. “Got it, Dad.”

“Move it!” Gulping hard, his son whirled and hotfooted his way toward the city, the pink haired Flame Dragon Mage racing hard on his heels.

“What exactly is going on?” The blond Slayer demanded with hands on his hips as he faced Metalicana with an angry glare.

“I’d love to know also, Dragon.” The man who called himself Dorenbolt added, arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re Guild master will be here soon. I will explain everything once I am certain that this sick female Gajeel mentioned is not the same Star Singer Sertatsie sensed was dying because the power needed to stabilize the astral prison is too great for her body to produce. The Star Singers must not come to any harm. Now be silent so I can contact Sertatsie since she’s the only one who knows how to save the Star Singer’s life if this is the one our eldest Queen sensed has begun to fade, Humans.” With those words, Metalicana created a thought orb and hurled it in the direction of the Ancient Dragon while maintaining his connection with his Slayer who was speeding down the still empty streets of Magnolia.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The race to save Lucy's life begins. Strangers arrive that hold information about why Lucy's so ill. The Mystery of the Fairies begins to get revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not make any money off of writing this fanfiction. Mashima and controlling companies own all rights to cannon Fairytail elements. I own the original character lunatics and very twisted little plot for this alternate universe story line.

CHAPTER 3.

Gajeel was having trouble accepting the information flowing through his brain from his dragon father. Following Natsu, Gajeel charged at maximum speed toward Lucy’s apartment. He had only been there a couple of times with Levy. At least Natsu was running beside him to lead the way if Gajeel made a wrong turn. A glance at his fellow slayer’s clenched jaw and burning eyes told Gajeel that the younger man could not ignore his heart’s choice where Fairy Tail’s blond haired darling was concerned. Best friend was Natsu’s favorite lie to Gajeel’s thinking. All Dragon Slayers knew who their best potential mates were on an instinctual level. Natsu seemed too intent upon ignoring the powerful tug that all of them saw happening to him, s well as felt toward Lucy Heartfilia for some very odd reason. Gajeel doubted Natsu was as stupid as he pretended to be, but Natsu was not a good fit with Lucy to calm his magic either.

  
Lucy somehow drew Natsu, and the rest of them, like moths were drawn to flames. If he was completely honest with himself, Gajeel knew he hated feeling the constant pull towards the blond Celestial Mage. He had also become very fond of Levy, Lucy’s best friend who was equally compatible to him, if not to the others. Levy at least was easy on his nerves, unlike the constant, low-grade thrumming of an undefined force that emanated from Lucy.

  
Catching Laxus watching Lucy on several occasions implied that the second generation Slayers also found Lucy Heartfilia’s pull hard to resist. For some inexplicable reason, it appeared that Celestial Mages, or at least their powers, held some kind of magnetism toward which all Dragon Magic was drawn. Nothing else made sense to Gajeel. He felt the flickers of real interest coming from Metalicana’s mind in response to his jumbled thoughts.

  
Mind wrestling with conflicting ideals, Gajeel almost careened into Natsu. The smaller man grabbed his forearm, leaping across Gajeel’s trajectory and jerking him toward one of the buildings. He had come close to running past his adopted sister’s home because of being distracted by his father’s nightmarish information, and his attempt to deflect the onset of shock through contemplating the odd link between Celestial Mages and Dragon Slayers.

  
Without stopping, Natsu busted through Lucy’s front door and scurried toward her bed still dragging him along. With a snort, Gajeel jerked free of Natsu’s grip and focused on the labored gasps coming from the open space just beyond the small kitchen nook beneath the closed window. The blocky archway leading into the second small room did not hide the single bed pushed against the wall.

  
Alert for the signs he was supposed to look for, Gajeel felt his heart drop into his toes. A visible, wavering glow surrounded Lucy like a corona surrounding the sun. He did not see anything that looked like chains, but from the surge of concern coming from Metalicana’s mind, Gajeel knew that things were going to get much worse.

  
“Shit, we’re in trouble. Metalicana was talking about this right before we came to get Bunny girl. Don’t know what dad can do to save her, but we gotta let him try before moving her anywhere, Flame Brain.”

  
Pushing past Natsu, Gajeel gave over full control of his body to Metalicana. His mind was shoved into a tight corner as his body began moving without his command. Power flowed through his mind and body as his hands settled on the sick girl’s stomach. An unfamiliar magic circle began to pulse from his finger tips as Metalicana’s power and voice flashed through Gajeel’s veins. The language was unknown to Gajeel as it flowed off his tongue, but he trusted his adopted father to do right by Lucy. He also sensed Metalicana’s belief that she was a strong mate for any dragon’s adopted son if they matched in power frequencies.

  
Gajeel’s thoughts centered on how Lucy Heartfilia was dearly loved by everyone within the guild because of her kind hearted ways. He did not care whether or not Lucy was magically strong enough to get the approval of his dragon parent. All Gajeel cared about was how the girl dying in front of him had forgiven him for all his violence when they first met. Lucy’s capacity to forgive, forget, and offer friendship terms was extraordinary. Lucy had a big heart, and was generous with everyone. She was only feisty when she needed to be. The young woman struggling to breathe brought real joy to everyone around her. Lucy could not die, or Fairy Tail, no all of Fiore, would lose one of the brightest lights it ever had gained.

  
Gajeel had seen Lucy getting attacked constantly during her time with Fairy Tail. Even he had attacked her on his last Guild Master’s orders with Phantom Lord. Now Gajeel had a better understanding of why dark guilds were so determined to hurt Lucy all the time. Somehow, Lucy was one of the most important mages in all Fiore, but only the dark guilds embraced that fact. Even among Fairy Tail members, some grumbled that Lucy was too weak to be on their guild’s strongest team of fighters. Some members whispered that Lucy needed to do easier jobs so she would be safe. It was common knowledge that most of Fairy Tail’s male members wanted Lucy to focus on doing pin ups for Sorcery Magazines as some of the staff did seek her for such work.

  
A few times, Laxus’s teammates had gone so far as to relegate Lucy's value to her own team’s cheering section. Yet the knowledge Gajeel was learning, as his father sealed Lucy into some kind of power pod, was pointing to the exact opposite being true. From all Gajeel was learning, Lucy was barely able to tap her true power because of being born trapped by ancient magic that kept something very dangerous sealed away through using her life force as the power source to maintain the seal. Her bloodline was cursed to maintain a very powerful magical barrier which could only be broken by her death. Lucy’s magical power and, more to the point, actual blood was very valuable as a means to unlock dangerous gates into another dimension.

  
Everything Gajeel had witnessed since he joined Fairy Tail was falling into perfect order now that he was privy to his dad’s knowledge. Intense horror began rising up from Gajeel’s depths over how many careless risks had been taken with Lucy’s life to date. Any one of Lucy’s near death experiences could have ended with a horrific war that Gajeel could scarce comprehend if Metalicana’s thoughts were accurate.

  
Blinking as his adopted father released his body back to his control, Gajeel heaved a shaky breath as he turned to look at Natsu. “I picked up part of what Metalicana came here to tell us while we were running over here to save Bunny girl, Natsu. It’s really bad, but it also explains everything that’s been happening to her since we returned from Tenrou.”

  
“Nothing’s worse than Lucy suffering like she has been for a couple weeks now.” The younger man snarled, a small flame slithered past his lips.

  
“Let’s get her back to Metalicana so he can get her healthy again. It seems my father knows why Bunny Girl’s been getting targeted by dark guilds. I saw part of it, and you’re going to have a melt down once you hear what he has to say.” Gajeel spoke as he quickly rolled Lucy onto her side and tucked her comforter around her upper body.

  
Brows furrowed, Natsu shoved him aside, completing the act of bundling Lucy up and lifting her bridal style against his chest. Without a word the pink haired Slayer headed for the front door. Gajeel took a moment to fix the metal in her door jambs so the door would close correctly, and followed Natsu. It took only a moment to undo the damage from their hasty entrance, and it bought Gajeel time to collect himself.

  
“What does your father know that we don’t?” Natsu growled as they hurried down the sparsely populated streets.

  
“Bunny Girl isn’t a normal Celestial mage. From what I caught from Metalicana’s thoughts, she’s part of an ancient bloodline called a Star Singer. The Dark Guilds are sworn to kill her no matter the cost to themselves.”

  
“Why would they want to kill Luce so bad?” Natsu shot a venomous glare his way.

  
“Why does any Dark guild ever do any of the stupid shit they do? Because if they can kill the last few Star Singers, they believe they’ll gain control over a super powerful magic beast for their own gain, dip shit! From what I was able to dig out of Metalicana’s mind, Lucy’s ancestors cursed their bloodline to power some kind of seal that keeps some kind of evil locked outside of our normal world. Seems it has something to do with her spirits also, but I’m not sure what the connection is because I can’t dig that deep into my dad’s mind.”

  
“I won’t let anyone hurt my best friend ever again!” Natsu hissed as he sped up to get to Metalicana faster.

  
“Correction . . . WE . . . won’t let the dark guilds hurt her. Bunny Girl’s like my little sister. Just don’t ever tell her I said that or I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp!”

  
Natsu nodded, glancing down at his precious burden. “So how long until this spell wears off?”  
“Don’t know, and I don’t intend to waste enough time to find out. Let’s pick up the pace and get back to Metalicana before that can happen. Hopefully he’ll be able to save Bunny once we get back to your place.”

  
“Let’s hope so. I just want Luce back to normal. I miss her kicking me out of her bed to be honest. Wonder why Wendy hasn’t been able to get her well, when your dad might be able to do it?”  
“Wendy can only heal normal injuries and illnesses, Dumb Ass. Bunny isn’t sick like normal, Flametard. She’s got a rare magical drain illness. Because of all the crap dark guilds have done to Bunny Girl, she’s gone far beyond her limits so is losing her power, and her life. I’m pretty sure her current problem started with that screwy Infinity Clock that she got trapped inside of a while back.”  
“We should find the pieces and make sure to pulverize that stupid clock then. If it’s busted up enough, then it can’t make Luce sick any more!”

  
Frowning, Gajeel stared straight ahead as he matched Natsu’s pace. The overly simplistic way the Fire Dragon Slayer viewed life could be downright embarrassing. Everything that came out of the pink haired Slayer’s mouth inevitably involved mass destruction as the solution to just about every problem. Although Gajeel did not mind breaking things, he realized that this was not a break random objects to save the girl variety crisis. Too bad Natsu would never understand the difference even if he tried to make the lug head pay attention long enough to absorb the gist of things.

  
Then again, Gajeel could not say that he was above falling into that trap on occasion. Destroying things was the fastest way to put an end to many problems. However, mass destruction was not the best way to stop the Dark Guilds from sinking their claws into Lucy yet again. They had to find a happy medium because of what Gajeel had gleaned from his father’s mind. How one small little female’s cursed family could cause so much trouble was almost beyond his ability to process. One thing was clear, Lucy Heartfilia was the victim of long term family troubles the likes of which none of them had ever dreamed.

  
They felt a cracking of massive power flowing and growing in the direction of Natsu’s home. An alarmed look at each other had Gajeel taking a protective guard position near Natsu. “I’ll cover you and Bunny Girl. Nothing’s going to get to her with us around.”

  
“Right. Maybe I should take her to the Guild Infirmary.” Natsu responded as he spun to change direction.

  
Grabbing his fellow Slayer’s shoulder, Gajeel shook his head once. “We should continue with Dad’s plan. Let’s just be cautious as we get near your place in case something has gone wrong. If needed, you can get Bunny Girl to the Guild while I block whatever is unleashing this much power. We should hurry though. Metalicana might need backup if this is because of the damned Rune Knights deciding no dragons are safe.”

  
“They wouldn’t!”

  
“The fuck they wouldn’t, Ash breath! Every time the Magic Council gets destroyed, the Royal family picks an even worse group of intolerant asshole mages to take over. I don’t even want to think about what the third council is going to be like once they all get appointed. Don’t forget that our first Grand Magic Games ended with a dragon invasion and a half destroyed Capitol. If not for the King having mages enough to repair the damage, Fiore’s finest mages, starting with us Dragon Slayers, would all be stuck on dragon extermination projects for the rest of our lives! We got lucky that you convinced that one fire dragon to side with humanity during the fight, or we’d all be screwed right now!” Gajeel barked.

  
Natsu snorted but said nothing more as he jogged through the public park and headed into the trees leading out of town. They dodged between tree branches, sticking to wider areas, heading toward the small clearing where Metalicana and the others were waiting. A much stronger tingle raced across Gajeel’s skin, and told him even before they got to Natsu’s ramshackle home that the new power surge was coming from his father. A scowl graced Gajeel’s features as he squashed the desire to hotfoot it to his father’s side. His strong emotional response to the power sensed actually startled Gajeel. It was not as if his adopted father was all that loving toward him as he grew up. If anything, Metalicana had been a somewhat cold parent. Gajeel realized he would probably fail at protecting his father if things were sliding downhill with the Rune Knights in any case. He had realized how weak he was compared to real dragons during the Eclipse gate disaster, and had yet to feel strong enough to handle a real dragon’s power so far.

  
Gajeel grabbed Natsu’s shoulder and skidded them both to a walk right before the trees gave way to Natsu’s property. A quick scrutiny of the area showed him that Metalicana was staring at a ring of energy which was rotating a bit above the ground at the other side of the small clearing. Master Makarov and other guild members were standing beside Natsu’s home as they also watched what was happening. Their collective tension was thick enough to shatter into lethal shrapnel if anything disturbed the area.

  
Unsure how to respond, Gajeel tried to reach his father’s mind. He must have succeeded despite being tired because Metalicana swung his massive head toward him and snorted before speaking. “It’s Sertatsie’s magic, so get over here. She’s got her ally warping space so she can get here to take care of your little friend faster.”

  
With a nod, he and Natsu entered the clearing and trotted to stand between Metalicana’s forelegs. The circle elongated into several circles that flowed and whirled in different directions to create a sphere of light that took up much of the clearing. The power was insane as it sparked and careened to create a portal. Small static bursts like tiny lightning bolts expanding from the core of the magic ball, and flared once more with a sudden splintering of rainbow hues before winking out of existence.

  
Gajeel blinked to clear the spots from his vision. Before them was a decrepit looking dragon who appeared to be fresh from a vicious fight. The damage to what must have once been a glorious white hide made Gajeel nauseous. Little remained of once broad wings. The destruction was so bad that the poor dragon could not fold the remains of tattered sails against it’s sides. A face that had been savaged, jaw not only broken, but partially ripped off gave testament to a battle so fierce Gajeel could not imagine it if he tried. Deep gouges and scabbed over flesh not quite able to meet and knit properly covered the dragon’s body. Oddly enough, the dragon’s misshapen body was supported on some kind of sled Gajeel noticed when he looked down at the part where strong front clawed forefeet should have been. Part of a single fore foot with two wicked claws were all that remained.

  
“How the Fuck can a nearly dead dragon heal Bunny Girl, Oyaji? Look at how badly injured that newcomer is, and explain where you got such a crazy idea! It hasn’t had enough time to even heal itself!” Gajeel glared up at his father while he railed at him.

  
“Sertatsie is the original Creation Dragon, fledgling. She is our most revered Ancient Queen, not an It. Speak with respect or keep your mouth shut!” Metalicana hissed in a deadly tone.

  
Stepping back as his Father’s snout with bared teeth came perilously close to his head, Gajeel continued to glare at his adopted parent. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful. All I know is that your Ancient Queen is so badly beat up that she can’t possibly have enough power to save Lucy, and herself, right now.”

  
A strangled purr coming from the new dragon’s direction caught everyone’s attention. Three people were sitting on the sled and laughing much to Gajeel’s dismay. Where had the trio come from? What was so funny about this situation?

  
As if the other dragon had heard his thoughts, a small orb flowed out of the new dragon’s head and floated closer to them all. “Little one, these injuries are not life threatening any longer. The Fairies helped remove the worst of the Abyss Lord’s venom for me. The wounds will never heal completely because of the nature of the Abyss Lord’s venom. I can do much to insure the Abyss Lord fails to escape his prison although my body looks so broken.”

  
Seeing the reactions of his guild mates as they began to mutter among their ranks, Gajeel could not help sounding sarcastic. “Wait a minute. How can you help Bunny girl, if you can’t heal yourself? Isn’t her problem part of the same deal? Metalicana seems to think her being sick is related to this Abyss Lord looking to kill her off to get rid of the blood seal that’s keeping him trapped.”

  
“Indeed your friend’s illness is related to the emergency that awoke us ancient warriors from our time suspended sleep. Her existence insures one of the seals that keeps the Abyss Lord imprisoned will not break unless her blood coats her specific ancestral binding stone. This little Celestial Mage is one of the cursed Star Singer lineages who willingly sacrificed their lives and all their generations for eternity to ensure the ancient destroyer remains bound and locked in a prison of light and life itself. Her life force, and the bulk of her magic power constantly sustains one of the astral chains which keeps the Abyss Lord trapped between dimensions where it can do no harm.”

  
Makarov stomped toward the newcomers looking like he was ready to do damage to someone. “What is the meaning of this tale you’re telling? Are you saying that Lucy’s life is in danger because of some ancient magic none of us have ever heard of before now? How can we believe you when none of us have ever heard of any such legend before?”

  
“The young woman’s ancestors helped to seal the Abyss Lord in a pocket dimension that we ancients created. It is no common curse that your Star Singer bears, Little Elder.” One of the three people with the wounded dragon walked closer. She was a very tiny and frail looking woman, with the strangest shaped eyes Gajeel had ever seen. “We have spent a long time in a deep stasis sleep, including Queen Sertatsie for the sole purpose of protecting the descendants of the Star Singers and magical tribes who threw away their humanity, and lives to seal that monster away long ago. To keep the immense destructive power sealed, we had no choice but to bind the prison to living beings so that the seals were fed power at all times.”

  
“We help now?” The other two, roughly the size of preteens asked in tandem. The other two rose in the air, a strange buzzing tone carrying to Gajeel’s sensitive ears. The pair held hands and zipped closer, floating on either side of the taller woman.

  
“Soon, Zayden and Skuhldra. First we need to explain things well enough to the sacred descendant's friends. Otherwise, they will fear our intentions. The hard stasis Metalicana learned to wield for this emergency will protect her for a little while. Once we explain things, then we can determine the problem with her specific soul chain and astral lock so it can be repaired.” The first woman answered. The pair dropped to the ground, stilling as they stared at each other. Almost transparent wings twitched upon both of their backs.

  
Gajeel’s jaw loosened as he recognized that the two new comers had wings. “Am I losing my mind, or do those kids have wings?”

  
“When we awoke due to the spell breaking due to the emergency, we learned that pure blooded Fairies have been extinct for two thousand years. In all honesty, only thirty odd pairs survived the Abyss Lord’s last attempt to destroy this world, so I can understand your shock at seeing genuine Fairies. To your kind, they are the stuff of pure legend now.” The taller woman answered.  
Makarov suddenly grinned like a fiend, or so Gajeel thought as the old man gave a shout of joy and began dancing around the winged pair. “I’ll be damned, they don’t have tails after all! Master Mavis will be so sorry she missed this!”

  
Again two voices were woven together, “Only the beast clans have tails. We’re from the cliff clans so no tails.”

  
Without warning, Natsu unleashed a chest deep snarl. “Do you mind figuring out how to save Luce already? I don’t like it that she isn’t breathing!”

  
The torrent of noise that exploded from their guild mates had Gajeel’s ears ringing in a matter of seconds. People were rushing forward, with Wendy in front as people tried to get close enough to check for themselves. One of the biggest surprises yet was that Laxus shoved the others aside and grabbed Lucy away from Natsu before he could react. “Why the fuck did you take so long to say something, you moron? Damn it! We’ve gotta get her breathing again before she dies!”

  
Before Laxus got more than a few steps away from Natsu, Metalicana was roaring loud enough to silence everyone. “Stop. The hard stasis spell is the reason she isn’t breathing. Your Star Singer is trapped perfectly between time at this moment so she can’t die. Hard stasis was designed to stop all functions without killing the person inside the sphere by removing all known laws of time. Sertatsie and these ancients were in an identical spheres for thousands of years and nothing harmed them. To them, it has only been a few months since they fought and sealed the Abyss Lord away.”

  
Gajeel felt his shoulders release with a muscle crackling shudder. He had not realized how tense he had become until it registered that he had not heard Lucy’s breathing either. He had been too focused on getting her to Metalicana to notice what felt wrong from the moment he was released from his Father’s control.

  
“Are you sure that Bunny Girl’s going to be okay, Dad?”

  
“So long as the stasis is not disturbed, she will remain in perfect suspension. We will only remove it to determine the extent of her damage so we can heal her.” The taller of the trio spoke again.

  
Gajeel noticed that Laxus refused to hand Lucy back to Natsu as he pivoted on his heels to face the Fairies and their human friend. If anything, Laxus was outright glaring intensely at the newcomers. Slight static crackled around Laxus which was all the proof Gajeel needed to recognize their Lightning Slayer was pissed off, and not going to calm down any time soon. Standing closer to Metalicana, Gajeel figured he would let Natsu get fried if he was too obsessed with getting Lucy back to take notice of the rising warning signs.

  
“By the way, what is your name, My Dear? I’m Makarov Dreyer, Guild Master of the Magical Guild known as Fairy Tail.” Makarov finally thought to show common courtesy to the trio.

  
Gajeel resisted the impulse to smack his own forehead over the look he got from his adopted Father. Obviously the constant breaches of expected etiquette had not been missed by the Iron Dragon. First their Guild Master forgets to exchange names. Then he makes a fool of himself by deciding to find out whether Fairies have tails instead of getting Bunny Girl much needed medical help. Now Makarov was swinging into miscreant mode, or Gajeel’s ears had misheard the devious undertone in the old pervert’s voice.

  
“I am Nadhasti, Fey Portal Master of the Bane Warriors. These are my soul bonds, Zayden, and Skuhldra of the Cliff Clan Fairies. They are remarkable healers even by their own race’s standards.”

  
“I see. Might I ask what a Soul Bond is?” Makarov was quick to ask.

  
Gajeel was startled when Metalicana responded. “Soul Bonding is an ancient magic that Fairies, or some of their hybrid children called Fey use. It prevents an obscenely powerful mage of any race that they are compatible with energy wise from losing control of their magical power and dying. Soul bonding allows Fairies or Fey to help regulate an out of control mage’s power for their protection. Nadhasti’s power tends to be one of the most dangerous forms to ever have existed since it tries to rip her body apart by creating portals to swallow pieces of her body.”

  
Sertatsie’s thoughts filled the clearing. “Very well said, Metalicana. In fact, from what I have learned of your generation’s history, Soul bonds could have prevented the Human Slayer from transforming into an insane dragon. The power would not have spiked so radically to shift his form if the unfortunate human had access to the soul bond’s magical regulation elements. Since it prevents such power spikes from doing harm, it is a very useful magic.”

  
Gajeel felt something was off with this conversation, but could not exactly place why he felt uneasy about what the dragons were discussing. Laxus was now glaring at Natsu and unleashing a quiet growl that raised Gajeel’s hackles over his ongoing attempts to take Lucy’s unconscious body back.

  
“Just give Luce back to me then, Lightning Rod!” Natsu snarled in a much louder voice as he returned the glare.

  
Gajeel did smack his forehead over the Alpha contest of stupidity happening in front of him. Aware that this was the worst time for Natsu and Laxus to get into an Alpha fight, Gajeel stomped closer and grabbed Natsu‘s arm to jerk him backwards while softly snarling. “Not now, Ash breath! You could kill Bunny Girl if you and Laxus get into an Alpha contest right now. She’s safe and that’s all that matters. Now that Laxus has her, we can protect her easier.”

  
After a few seconds, Natsu’s expression cleared and he went from angry to smirking. “Good point. Okay, I’ll let him hang onto Luce so long as he’s careful with her.”

  
Several sparks flew from Laxus’s shoulders over Natsu’s ill tempered comment. The older Slayer snarled, “After Lucy’s taken care of, I’m going to enjoy pulverizing you, Idiot!”

  
“Once I know Luce is okay, I’ll be happy to fight you, Lightning Rod.”

  
Without warning a golden light exploded near Laxus. Gajeel and Natsu both leapt between Laxus and the sphere that coalesced into Loke. The Celestial Spirit looked tired and was obviously very angry. “We almost can’t sense Lucy at all so I came to check on her! Why is she glowing like that?”  
“We’re trying to figure that out ourselves, Loke, so calm down. This dragon put her in some kind of time stopping magic to keep her alive so we can figure out how to help her.” Laxus tipped his head toward Metalicana as he answered the rapid fire questions Loke hurled.

  
“Well isn’t this an unexpected pleasure. It’s been how many millennia since we last spoke, Reagaltiel? Or must I call you Leo now that you’re a Star Guardian Spirit?” Loke whirled to stare at the ancients standing near the center of the clearing, and his jaw dropped.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loke gets a shock to end all shocks and ancient history is revealed. An unparalleled attack is unleashed on Lucy's stasis trapped body. Bedlam erupts as Fairy Tail is thrown into a pitched battle to protect their Celestial Spirit Mage's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Fairy Tail cannon elements nor make money for writing this story. I own my original characters and twisted alternative universe plot.

CHAPTER 4

“Well isn’t this an unexpected pleasure. It’s been how many millennia since we last spoke, Reagaltiel? Or must I call you Leo now that you’re a Star Guardian Spirit?” Loke whirled to stare at whomever had spoken. His jaw dropped as an impossible vision hit his retinas. Near the center of the small clearing, a person he had seen in his nightmares for thousands of years stood with a crooked grin on her face. Loke rubbed his eyes thinking he was either being tricked by malicious magic, or was hallucinating because of exhaustion. Keeping Lucy stable by feeding her extra power was near impossible for even the strongest Celestial Spirit.

  
Looking again, Loke recalled the female’s name was Nadhasti. The nightmare reminded Loke that the Fey woman was supposed to be Vraylinish's right hand commander for the Fairies. Small and busty, the reddish gold, borderline matted hair contrasted with her fur pelt clothing. The feral looking female still stood in the same exact spot, flanked by two very familiar and detested Fairies. Loke continued to study her and noticed that her eyes were oddly shaped, not quite round, nor almond, with a hint of droopiness to her lids. Her eyes were very distinctive colors. One eye was an electric blue that leapt out to grab attention. The other was a fierce, glowing copper. Very high cheekbones were balanced by elongated ears that had no discernible lobes with rippled ridges which ended in sharp points.

  
Shaking his head to clear it of the image, Loke grumbled, “Am I fucking hallucinating?”

  
Nadhasti laughed. “We’re very much alive and well, Reagaltiel. We survived thanks to your insane decision to kill yourself summoning the Star Phoenix. It destroyed your body, as well as fifteen other highest ranked Constellation priests that liked your idea. Then again, using that forbidden spell also saved a couple hundred lives and the last piece of the Tenrou continent. The Sacred Saint always described you as being insanely smart like a half starved fox determined to eat. Even the Sheemastra Royal Clan survivors agree that you lived up to her evaluation spectacularly.”

  
Looking at the rainbow prism hued white hide of Sertatsie made Loke’s heart pound. He saw that portion of his nightmare as if it was still happening. Walking toward the ancient Queen’s tortured body, Loke heard the buzz of conversations getting louder as he moved mechanically toward his goal.

  
“How did you survive to be here, High Queen Sertatsie? We spirits know you crashed into the ground during that outright slaughter. Watching you crash convinced Reagaltiel that there was no other option than to summon the Star Phoenix to gain the slimmest chance at sealing that demon away to save everyone.”

  
“Vraylinish figured as much. She’s still furious at you for acting so recklessly, Reagaltiel. None of us are looking forward to releasing her from time suspension because she does not calm down once she gets truly livid. Breaking a promise, even by accident is a dangerous activity for anyone, including yourself.”

  
“Reagaltiel died at Tenrou. Call me Loke or Leo since the Star Phoenix took what was left of the human mind you knew to create me, the Celestial Spirit locked into all the constellation’s power. I’m actually one of the true chains imprisoning the Abyss Lord. The reason I remember parts of the battle from Reagaltiel’s last hour of life is due to the fact that his was the driving emotional and thought force that created Leo’s chain’s strength. In fact I recall various human and non human lives from that specific day since their souls and powers merged together as they died fighting to save Earthland. Many dying thoughts and desires combined to create each of us Celestial Spirits. Even a few Fairies wound up contributing to the creation of us Celestial Spirits in the end. You could say we are the ultimate fusion of many diverse races determination to protect Earthland. Each of the Celestial Spirits have distinctive traits that reflect whichever race was most closely aligned to them when the Constellation Priests succeeded in summoning the Star Phoenix. I might look like the Constellation Priest Reagaltiel since he ultimately became the Leo constellation’s foundation sentience, but I am not the same being.”

  
Twin voices spoke as one. “Most unfortunate news. Vraylinish will be displeased that you have forgotten your pair bond vows.”

  
“Shut up, Fairies! I wasn’t talking to you. Just because Nadhasti is your slave doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you get away with any of your kind’s sadistic crap now that you’re back!” Loke snarled as he whirled to face the small immortals.

  
Like Nadhasti, the pair had the same sharply rippled and pointed, lobe less ears, and odd shaped eyes. Their foreheads were even larger than their half human slave’s alien features. Both wore large wolf pelts with the legs intact as ties. An androgynous pair of roughly thirteen year old bodies with almost transparent bat like wings with prominent sail claws clasped at their throats completed their eerie appearance.

  
“Seems you recall a fair amount of things if you’re already threatening my Soul Bonds, Loke.” Nadhasti said as she stepped between him and her Fairy masters.

  
“A lot of history about the period when I was created are recorded in the Celestial Library. I made it a point to relearn all the ancient magical races major traits, including all the shit that the Fairies caused when they last existed. In fact the amount of horrific trouble they caused in this world before the Abyss Lord’s power insured their extinction fills several large tomes and takes up an impressive section of the Celestial Library.”

  
Nadhasti laughed. “I can believe it. Still, my bond mates don’t keep me unaware nor as a slave. All Fairies happen to be very polarized beings by nature. For each pair of twins born, one is light and the other dark. It isn’t as if they choose to be that way, Reagaltiel. It is their nature by birth to embody the two extremes. It is the reason they must always be in contact with their polar opposite. It is their way of maintaining balance. Their access to the One Power comes from such complete fusions of the extreme opposites as I’m sure you know.”

  
“Even so, their polarity problem allows the evil half of each pair to cause a lot of pain and sorrow since the light half lets their vicious partner get by with way too much nastiness. Looks like I’m going to have my hands full making them behave because they’re not going to throw everyone into chaos. And my name is Loke. I’ve already told you that Reagaltiel died on Tenrou.” The Lion snarled.

  
Sertatsie intervened. “Loke is correct, Nadhasti. Reagaltiel’s body was consumed in star fire and re-formed as one of the binding stone seals. The stone tied Reagaltiel’s relatives and descendants’ life force and powers to maintaining Leo’s Seal. Same applies with the other fifteen High Priests and Priestesses that helped summon the Star Phoenix. Do not be deceived by shallow appearances.”  
Loke frowned as he raked a hand through his mane. “Wait! Reagaltiel had children? Shit, it’s times like this when I really hate not knowing very much about the human’s life before the final battle with the Abyss Lord. Now I’ll go crazy with curiosity until His Majesty gives me access to the Royal Archive to get details about that priest!”

  
As the group of ancients stared at each other, Loke sighed in vexation. All Loke knew about having been created from a human was due to the recurring nightmares that haunted him. Snippets of numerous pasts that made no sense plagued Loke's sleep. Not one thing made any sense for the most part. Flashes of conversations, feelings of guilt or devious plotting, battles of wits and physical prowess all haunted Leo's dreams. The Fey woman and her demonic masters were only familiar to Loke because the subtly shifting nightmares had shown these specific beings to him so often. Vraylinish was always with them in Loke’s nightmares. She was the one thing that still felt truly nostalgic to Loke.

  
The lion spirit knew Reagaltiel had loved Vraylinish with all that he was due to the image of her amputated arm hitting the ground in front of the original Star Singer in every single version of his dreadful dreams. Reagaltiel’s anguished thoughts from that moment were set in the hardest of stone, like the heart and Golden Key that bound Leo forever to the Earthland plain. The memory of an all consuming love was so tenacious and entrenched that Loke had never rid himself of that bone deep conviction.

  
Although he would never admit it aloud, Loke did know plenty about the Sacred Saint, although everything else was hazy, flowing into and out of recall. Loke also knew every Star Singer spell to the point it was instinct thanks to the human who he most resembled of the many species that died helping the Leo priest succeed.

  
Makarov’s voice demanded his attention. “So you’re saying that these strangers are telling the truth, Loke?”

  
Facing the wizened little Guild Master, Loke nodded. “Yeah. Although I’m not sure what’s happening at this point. Then again, all of the zodiac key spirits are tearing apart the Celestial Library trying to find a cure for Lucy, so if they have answers, it will be a huge relief for all our realm's people. Ophiuchus is making some medicines that should help Lucy cope with whatever this illness is. We already know the same illness killed her mother, but not much else. We have ruled out poisons and many other possibilities for why she’s so ill.”

  
Gajeel spoke. “According to these dragons, Bunny Girl’s got a magical drain illness. These guys all seem to think it has something to do with the Abyss Lord trying to kill her.”

  
Loke furrowed his brows as he considered the information. “We know that Lucy’s magic is being drained at an alarming rate, Gajeel. All of the Zodiac that Lucy holds the keys of are sharing as much power with Lucy as we dare to keep her core stable. But the Abyss Lord shouldn't be able to reach Lucy even if it isn't fully asleep right now.”

  
“If Abyss is attacking this Singer directly, her Blood Seal, and corresponding Celestial Spirit chains will become visible five minutes before she dies, Loke. Do you have any idea which Celestial Spirit she is related to by bloodline?”

  
“The Abyss Lord trying to corrode Lucy’s Astral chain is probably the missing link I’ve been trying to figure out, and was missing. I’ll have to speak to His Majesty and see if he can help Lucy break any spells that might be contributing to her being so sick. He always calls anyone attached to him ‘old friend,’ but he refers to her as Princess to the rest of us so I think Lucy’s directly linked to our Spirit King’s seal.”

  
“Which constellation would your Spirit King happen to represent, Loke?” Twin voices asked with a nerve grating undertone that shot a wave of dread through Loke’s system. Turning to glare at the Fairies, Loke responded, “Orion is His Majesty’s constellation. Why are you even interested in knowing which Star Temple he represented in summoning the Phoenix?”

  
The group’s horrified expressions felt like a physical blow upside Loke’s head. His guts twisted in a knot as the ancient warriors froze into rigid statues. Hearing that Lucy was sealed to the Orion Seal was obviously frightening news to them. Unsettled by their reaction, Loke snapped, “Why are you looking at me like I doomed all of Earthland?”

  
Sertatsie was the first to recover. “As a last resort and fail safe, all the most powerful survivors of all races placed a secondary spell on both of Orion’s blood sealed stones because the temple High Priest, and Second had so many relatives and descendants with strong Star Singer ability.”  
Dread fisted Loke’s heart and strangled his lungs. “What did you morons do?”

  
Twin subdued voices answered so softly that Loke almost missed their words. “In the event a bloodline was destroyed, Orion’s descendants would automatically take on the power feed burden of the lost bloodline to maintain the Blood Seals.”

  
Loke’s existence tilted on it’s axis as the words hit home and he realized the truth. Fury kindled like a wild fire in his veins, pulsed down the length of his astral chain, feeding excess constellation energy back into his body. “If one of the Zodiac bloodlines has become extinct, then Lucy got stuck with the burden of powering an additional Blood Seal?! Is that what you’re saying has happened?”  
Instead of words, all four of them meekly nodded. Loke’s temper exploded as full throated roars of anger. “Do any of you realize what your stupid safeguard really means? Didn’t you realize that doing something so stupid could destroy a second bloodline and insure the Abyss Lord’s freedom? Zeref and his followers have been systematically killing off every member of the Star Singer lineages they could find for the last four hundred years!”

  
Pacing back and forth in front of the small group of ancient mages, Loke continued to scream as his mind plotted the most likely outcome for what the magical races had unwittingly set in motion. “If Lucy’s stuck personally empowering two of the Blood Seals simultaneously, there’s very little possibility of saving her life! We’re looking at a dangerous potential recoil situation if the few remaining members of her bloodline gets hit and overwhelmed with trying to compensate by synchronously feeding multiple Blood Seals if she dies!”

  
Loke felt more than heard additional people closing on his position. A glance revealed a very angry looking Gajeel, Makarov, Grey, Mirajane, and Erza stomping up to support him. Their power rising to create visible glows, death glares announcing their determination to protect Lucy. Loke knew he probably looked the same.

  
Nadhasti explained. “We thought with the large number of family members attached to Orion’s Seal it would be the only one that could handle splitting the burden of powering a lost lineage seal. She shouldn’t be alone in feeding a second Blood Seal since there were a large number of descendants to be born. Orion’s Temple had a large number of Star Singer priests from Kainon and his brother Setheon. They both had many powerful offspring, and grand children by the time Tenrou happened. It made sense to protect the seals by creating a fail safe binding at the time.”

  
Loke felt his power flaring around his hands and saw the golden power spiraling around his fists to flow almost to his elbows. He fought the urge toward physical violence rising within. “None of the Star Singer lineages are plentiful since Zeref began exterminating them! You fools may have fucking killed Lucy’s mother when she was a little girl because of your safeguard spell! Is there anything else that you Dumb Asses tampered with that we Celestial Spirits really need to know about? How about starting with the spell to free Lucy from the extreme drain so we can keep her alive without killing anyone else in her family?”

  
“Only a spare from the original Blood Seal family can take the burden.” Sertatsie answered.  
Erza stepped in front of Loke with her hands on her hips and a blue black aura seeping out of her armor to surround her in a fearsome aura. “Is there a way to attach the seals to lacrimas as their main power source? The magic contained in lacrimas could be infused by almost anyone which would take the strain off of Lucy and anyone else cursed by you.”

  
Loke felt hope flaring as Erza’s idea held a lot of merit. Fueling the seals from a multitude of magical sources would insure the Blood Seals could never falter due to a lack of magic. Lacrimas could be fine tuned to shift the energies into the right frequency no matter what kind of magic was used as the power source. It was a beautiful idea, and he was busy thinking about how to tune the stones so that all of Fairy Tail’s resident mages could contribute power to saving Lucy.

  
His ears tuned into the twin voices that grated on his nerves and incited creepy shivers down his spine. “. . . were so simple. Astral Star Chains won’t function long without blood backed power. All Star Singers are blood powered. We aren’t the ones who created that little problem you know. The sixteen Constellations priests who became the Blood Seals are responsible for that glitch. We survivors did what was needed to insure the Abyss Lord can’t escape the pocket dimension where it is chained down by the Star Guardians you call Celestial Spirits. The Abyss Lord’s influence made it possible to silence all non blood powered magic users called Celestial Mages recently with some kind of major spell. It was this change that triggered loosening the time suspension aspect of our sleep cocoons so we would awaken in time to fight the Abyss Lord again.”

  
Hope deflating, Loke realized the Fairies were right. Star Singers had always been bloodline oriented. Celestial mages had come later, taught what they could learn from the Star Singers. If anything, the majority of Celestial Mages were small sized portal creators and shamanic based powers instead of star based. None of them were able to feel the stars power as it shone onto their bodies, nor could they naturally absorb the star energy surrounding them.

  
Gajeel’s gravelly voice was flat with certainty. “You mean that fucking Infinity Clock that Bunny Girl got shoved into a while back was tampered with somehow by this Abyss Lord we’ve got to stop . . .”

  
A crackling boom filled the air before anyone could respond. The sound of sizzling energy spread as Loke turned to see Laxus and Natsu clinging to Lucy’s energy shrouded form as no less than five large, and one thin, black ropes of power tried to encase her body. The black lightning like energy ropes were tugging Lucy upward and into the vacuum like hole that was pulsing in the clear sky above their group.

  
Determined to protect Lucy, Loke lunged toward his master only to have one of the black chains suddenly split and recoil from Lucy’s suspension sphere to strike his midriff. Black energy slammed into his body, slithering toward Loke’s core. The force of the black powers contact flung Loke onto the ground. Hard impact tore the air from Loke’s lungs. His hands encased with Regulus power wrapped around the black pulsing cord as Loke fought to pull it out of his chakra center. It did not escape his notice that the black power had traveled down the astral link he tied to Lucy to shore up her life force.

  
Loke knew that if the black power gained control of his Astral Star Chain, it would stop the flow of Regulus and other stars power which Loke depended upon to maintain the prison, and protect Lucy. Failure was not an option with so much at stake. Cutting all energy supplies to Lucy was necessary, but difficult. With the burrowing parasitic power trying to overwhelm Loke, remaining in full control of his own magic was becoming a strain.

  
In the back of his mind Loke cursed the Fairies and all the other magical races for having tampered with the Star Phoenix’s original prison parameters. If not for their meddling, it was unlikely that he and Lucy would be in a life and death struggle. Tugging up with all his might as Loke focused on drawing a burst of new star fire into his body to counter the invader, Loke rolled onto his side. Agony blinded his eyes with tears as he writhed from the sensation reminiscent of thousands of millipede legs moving through his nervous system.

  
Searing electricity rippled through Loke’s body a moment later. The power came from another origin it seemed. Someone was chanting next to his ear in the ancient tongue as the painful bolt of magic encased the black magic and stopped the alarming crawling sensation from getting any stronger. Moments later, Loke felt the invasive spell getting torn from his body as if it were no more troublesome than a large splinter squeezed until it popped free of infected skin. It was almost as painful as the initial attack, but Loke was grateful for this pain.

  
Gasping for air, Loke tried to focus his watering eyes on his savior’s face. Before his eyes were clear enough to focus his vision, hands were jerking him upright as twin voices collided as one. “We have to help the Star Singer now. We broke the link so you will be safe. Do not make another one or you might be destroyed next time.”

  
The sudden buzz of wings slapped Loke’s ears as the hands vanished from his arm. Owing a pedigree Fairy pair for his life did not sit well with Loke, but he did owe them his thanks because of their intervention. Granted their sadistic side had shown itself in how they ripped the spell out of him, but Loke knew they were incapable of true compassion. With a deep, cleansing breath, Loke wiped residual tears from his eyes and decided to overlook that aspect of their help.

  
Jumping to his feet, Loke focused on finding Lucy’s position. Everyone was converging upon her and Laxus, doing all they could to keep her from being snatched from Laxus’ grasp. Natsu was bellowing and attacking the black cords with his dragon’s roar to no avail. Gajeel’s hands passed through them as if they did not exist as he sought to grab hold and pull against the force dragging Laxus and Natsu beneath the void opening.

  
The Fairies present did something that Loke did not quite see, yet Natsu seemed unable to open his mouth to unleash another dragon roar upon the blackness attacking Lucy’s frail body. The petite pair, one hand linked as was ever the case with the dratted race, shot up closer to the opening from where the cords emanated. The pair linked their second hands as they hovered above the black lines threatening Lucy. Overlapping power began to rise, spiraling upward as their inhuman true voices blended into an ancient One Power song that sent shock waves through the atmosphere.

  
Loke stumbled closer to his mistress, digging deeper into his resources of star fire to alert the other Zodiac spirits that they had an emergency on their hands. The spell was wordless, but his Astral Star Chain blazed brilliant gold which would resonate within the Celestial Realm as he called upon all of Regulus and it’s companions’ power for his own use. Grabbing the thickest of the offensive astral cables that were trying to drag Lucy into the void above, Loke dug in his heels and began to pull down with all his star fire backed ability. Taking some of the strain off of Laxus who was miraculously still standing on the ground was the wisest thing Loke could do at the moment. The amount of tug that Loke encountered would have yanked a smaller man like Natsu into the air almost immediately. He unleashed some of his star fire into the astral link and watched as it began to twist and writhe within the black magic it was countering. If he could sever the largest of the strands, they would be better able to repeat the same action and free Lucy.

  
“What the fuck are these bindings? Blondie’s in major trouble. Doesn’t anyone in the guild know a way to break these damned things before they kill her?” Laxus roared.

  
A glance back to see why Laxus was wasting energy on screaming showed Loke the worst case scenario. Gajeel, Natsu and Laxus were all trying to maintain hand holds on Lucy’s body. It was not that which stopped Loke’s heart beat. The vision of Lucy’s soul being pulled from her body, multiple silvery white chains locked into her soul core and vibrating at an insane rate was to blame for Loke’s panic. Darkened cracks were forming as the core of Lucy’s spirit was strained by the blackness of the magic attacking her. The black cords were actually astral chains embedded in Lucy’s soul. Far too many chains were attached to her life force. How she had managed to survive with so much power drain was beyond Loke to process. It was now imperative that they fight to get enough slack in the black cables to get Lucy’s soul seated inside her body again.

  
As if his Celestial Spirit companions had heard his desperation driven thoughts, Perseus, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Taurus, and the Celestial King all flashed into the clearing and began grabbing the other black cables to enter into the tug of war for possession of Lucy’s soul and body. How the Celestial Spirit King managed to show up without more Zodiac Keys getting broken coupled with deaths was beyond Loke, but he was relieved that he was not following Aquarius’s sad fate all the same. Their team work and star power combined had to make it possible to gain the slack needed before Lucy’s core was shattered. If her soul literally shattered, there would be no after life for their beloved Master, and that was one thing Loke flat refused to allow. How they would heal Lucy’s soul was not yet known, but Loke silently vowed he was going to find the way just as soon as they won this tug of war, and removed every drop of black magic from the obscene number of astral chains tied to Lucy’s soul seat.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Celestial Spirits descend from their world to battle the corroding star chains that are killing Lucy, the Ancient fairies order Nadhasti to open the pocket dimension where an unknown number of Ancients are trapped between space and time. Can Loke and the spirits prevent Lucy's death, or will the Fairies prove to be treacherous still?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revised a bit, and still make no money from writing this story. All rights to cannon elements belong to Mashima. All original characters and mega divergent plot belong to myself. Story takes place after Tartarus, but the guild did not disband. {Ancient tongue being spoken.}

CHAPTER 5

The ongoing power drain of feeding active seals combined with the deadly corrosion of black magic infiltrating her soul was killing Lucy. No mortal could comprehend how horrific the death would be. Fear clogged Loke’s throat as he and the other Celestial Spirits to arrive, did all in their power to thrust the black power back into the void above them. Like a twisted game of tug o war, the dragon slayers fought to keep their footing. Loke and the spirits coming to help grabbed the astral chains, hauling back to create slack before Lucy’s body, or worse, her soul got sucked into the void. The chains’ strain upon Lucy's soul core could shatter her soul if the pressure was not relieved fast. Lucy’s soul was likely developing fissures as her chains were attacked by the Abyss Lord. If her soul core shattered from the combination of stresses, there was no way for Lucy to ever reincarnate. Loke and the other spirits knew that her soul seat was everything the process of being reborn required.

Loke cursed as his feet slipped forward despite digging in his heels.

“What the fuck’s that coming out of Luce’s chest?” Natsu demanded, edgy fear tainting his voice.

“Metalicana told us earlier that chains would appear if Bunny Girl was about to die. They gotta be what he was talking about, Dumb shit. Just focus on keeping your hold on her body and let her Spirits handle the damned rope spells already. They’re better suited to the job since we can’t physically grab the damned things!” Gajeel snarled.

“I want to fight who ever’s attacking Luce, Metal Freak! I’m not doing anything to save her by pulling on her legs like this!” Natsu yelled back.

“Shut the fuck up and don’t you dare even think about letting go of Blondie’s legs, Flame Thrower! If you let go we lose her body to that void, and then we’ve got no chance at all of saving her!” Laxus bellowed at Natsu.

Blinding light flared overhead as an explosive concussion of wind came close to knocking everyone off their feet. Virgo proved their best anchor which did not surprise Loke in the least. Her connection to the earthier aspects of star power made it possible for her to stabilize all of them and refuse to give ground. A glance at the fierce expression on the Celestial Maid’s face made Loke glad he was not the one who had angered Virgo. Although Loke was considered the most flexible fighter in most situations, Virgo was the most vindictive and meanest whenever she got mad. From the glance Loke had gotten, Virgo was beyond mad. The Maiden had a murderous aura rising from her body that bordered upon a miasma. Not even Erza could match the maid’s death glare which was directed at the void hole in the sky. If Virgo had the power available to match her glare, Loke felt that Abyss Lord would be reeling in death throws.

More curses flew into Loke’s ears as he sought to focus on pouring his power into the chains and cleaning the taint as he hauled back with all his weight to pull the chain in his favor. The chain began retracting and he got yet another step closer to Lucy’s body. Perseus the Hero was also making small headway at cleaning and pulling his chain toward their Princess.

Makarov’s voice almost undid Loke’s concentration. “What happens when Lucy’s silver colored soul comes out of that protective sphere, Dragons?”

Loke refused to look back. He knew if he saw Lucy’s soul breaching the suspended animation spell, he would panic. Panic would insure that the spirits lost the most important human they had met in centuries. If Lucy would simply change her mind and allow it, Loke would wrap himself around his beloved Celestial Mage and never let go while she was alive. If Lucy asked it of him, Loke was certain he could give up flirting with women so long as he could keep flirting with Lucy instead. Loke would do anything to save Lucy without a second thought. Regret did not enter Loke's head when it came to throwing himself against anyone who threatened his beautiful, and warm hearted master.

“The poor woman’s dead already. Her soul core’s breaking as it’s being ripped from her body! All we can do at this point is sever the chains and attach them to the spares.” Nadhasti was almost on top of Loke as she snapped the nasty response.

“Fuck you, Nadhasti! You keep your fucking Fairy controlled paws off of Lucy! She’s not dead, and we will save her!” Loke twisted his upper body close enough to roar in the woman’s face.

“Have you lost your mind? Her soul seat’s fracturing under the strain. I don’t give a damn about whether or not you can handle the truth right now. We’ve got to keep the Abyss Lord from getting loose and she’s no longer able to feed the Blood Seals. Zayden and Skuhldra and I can shore up and feed the Seals long enough to attach them to new Star Singers. If we cut the chains now, we can stabilize the prison dimension in time!”

Before Loke completely lost it and let go of his chain to slug the cold blooded wretch, his King reached down and grabbed the tiny hybrid by her furs. His Majesty tossed Nadhasti away from the astral chains. “Leave Lucy Heartfilia alone. Loke’s right about our old friend. Princess Lucy isn’t dead yet, and we will find a way to save her life. We Celestial Spirits owe our old friend a debt far greater than you can imagine. Risking the prison leaking some of the Abyss Lord’s power to save our beloved and most powerful ally is a worthwhile risk we will take!”

“You fools don’t have the right to risk this world’s fate to fawn over a mostly dead female!” Twin voices shrieked in tandem.

The pair continued to shout, but were speaking in the ancient tongue. Nadhasti was the only word Loke fully understood, although he had enough recall of Reagaltiel’s knowledge to understand they were up to something very detrimental to Lucy’s survival. However, Loke was resistant to allowing the dead’s memories to surface enough to swamp his mind. Unlike the other Celestial Spirits, Loke found the ancient memories from before he came into being too traumatic, so forced them into confinement. Remembering the ancient dead tongues of thousands of years ago was necessary though if he was going to protect Lucy’s life.

A feral growl escaped Loke’s throat as he lifted his eyes to where the deadly duo hovered. They were becoming a very dangerous problem since they had chosen to be murderous in their whimsical desires. Loke saw a much larger hand grab onto the chain he was fighting to purge. “Loke, I can manage both chains. I’m entrusting Lucy’s survival to you. Stop them before they can force their desires upon us all.”

“They won’t touch a hair of our princess’s head, Majesty.” Loke answered as he released his chain and ducked under the massive arm of his king.

Natsu must have heard them because the Fire Dragon Slayer was cracking his knuckles with a savage expression as he moved with Loke towards the Fey Mage who was singing in a soft voice, power flashing from her fingertips. Nadhasti was levitating above the ground a power encircled her in loose spirals, lifting her even higher. She was almost beyond his jumping height already.

“I’m fired up now. Now I can do something to save Luce.” Natsu hollered with a big grin.

Loke felt a smirk cross his lips despite feeling a bit pessimistic about their chances. Natsu simply had a way of bringing out hope in others.Then again, Natsu rarely listened to anyone else, but Loke felt compelled to try and explain the enemy.

“Be sure to use your power wisely. None of them are human which means they are extremely tough opponents. Fairies are damned near indestructible, and truly immortal. Their half breed children are as hard to take down as enraged prime aged dragons.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Loke!”

“I can only wish I was bullshitting, Natsu! The Fairy race was the most powerful, and deadliest of all the magical races that existed in Earthland. They aren’t anything like us no matter how they look. Fairies don’t have emotions like love or compassion. They amuse themselves by enslaving and abusing people of different races to escape boredom! They don’t understand friendship either. Cold blooded doesn’t begin to cover the kinds of shit the Fairies pulled for their own entertainment when they ruled this world. To stop them from killing Lucy’s going to take everything we’ve got and more.” Loke explained as he kept pace with the jogging dragon slayer.

“We won’t lose ‘cause Luce needs us.” Natsu flashed his trademark grin and slammed his fists together. Fire sparked to life as they charged toward Nadhasti.

Loke knew they had to make it before whatever spell she was casting was complete. The biggest problem would be getting high enough to hit the Fey mage before Nadhasti’s cast was completed. Ancient Fey magic was primal, unfettered by the same rules of the modern magic bases. Loke could use the ancient Star Singer power if he wished, but rarely drew so much from external sources. Feys and Fairies inhaled external energy and converted it as if it was simply an extension of their own selves. Fairies and Feys sometimes killed other life forms by draining their life force as magical power. Drawing power from everything without any awareness of their actions was part of their nature. Insects, plants, and even small animals would start dying within minutes if Nadhasti, Zayden, and Skuhldra used their magic simultaneously for more than a few minutes.

Increasing Loke’s growing horror, Nadhasti’s bands of power began to solidify into a blocky archway that swirled with tempestuous magic. Nadhasti was opening a very large gate and that took an immense amount of power to stabilize. With her Fairy pure blood masters also using their combined One Power magic to combat the void, the drain on the elements, and even lesser creatures around them would begin happening soon.

But, to where, or to whom, was the gate intended to connect? Loke wondered. Before he and Natsu could attack, the gate blasted out a considerable amount of power which knocked them off their feet. The power blast meant that Nadhasti’s gate was already opening so they were much too late to stop whomever was about to arrive. It had blasted them back instead of dragging them in which was typical of an ancient gate. Modern magic tended to create an actual physical looking door which was a two way entrance into another place. One way only was the law with Nadhasti’s magic if Loke recalled his ancient lore well enough.

Twisting in the air, Loke managed to insure he would roll back onto his feet the second he stopped tumbling. Like himself, Natsu was quick to get back to his feet, ready to begin a second charge. Natsu lunged toward the Fey mage without considering what the gate’s opening even meant.

Loke yelled as he turned toward the gate’s opening. “Natsu, be careful of the ancient gate. We don’t know what’s coming out of it!”

The pink haired Slayer was too focused on reaching Nadhasti it seemed. Just as Natsu dipped into a crouch to catapult himself to reach the ancient mage, a whirlwind of rainbow hued power shot out of the brilliant shimmering gate with the force of large battering ram. The impact slammed into Natsu, flinging him away like a tiny rag doll. A string of curses exploded from Loke’s lips as he flung himself to the side before the magic attack could take him out also.

Vaulting back onto his feet, Loke was angrier than he had been for centuries. Resigned to the inevitable, Loke began to shift his focus to shunt energy from all the stars that he could. Dropping into his blended core, the Lion spirit opened himself to the pieces of all whom had died to create his existence. Memories flooded Loke’s awareness that were not his own.

**_Ancients never thought about after effects or consequences, nor moderated their magical power use when they cast a spell. Everything magical so many millennia ago was grounded in using one hundred and ten percent raw power from the moment an ancient mage began casting any spell. The idea of moderation never entered an ancient mage’s mind. Conserving power was never considered because the idea had yet to be invented. Rules based upon morality were unknowns for the most part._ **

_**The common practice was for multiple mages to create the Gateway Clearing spell before stepping into any new territory rose unbidden. It was created by fusing powerful mages dominant elemental strengths into a single large as the gateway, corkscrewing physical attack. The attack’s purpose was to throw anything close to the gate away to insure a safe exit for everyone inside the gate who could not see what they were about to be confronted with once they stepping into the new area.** _

_**Gateway Clearing was the worst possible spell for Natsu to get his very first bone shattering taste of how vicious ancient mages were Loke felt. It would be very hard for Natsu to get up after getting hit with what amounted to a massive hard swung wrecking ball’s raw force. Even if he did stand again, Loke knew he would be suffering shattered bones that would make physical attacks very difficult, if he even had enough bones left to get back on his feet. Gateway Clearing was a demon slowing tactic from the ancient times before the inter-dimensional gates were finally closed for good. Demon Banes were the ones fondest of using gates combined with such tactics.** _

Processing the information in a matter of seconds, Loke drew on the maximum tapable power at his disposal and crouched to attack. Three figures shot out of the gate and into view. As the memories warned him, five ancient mages leapt out in a defensive pattern to insure the way stayed clear for others to exit the gateway. All were dressed in primitive furry pelts haphazardly tied together. Their borderline stone aged, very large honed bone based weapons and caveman looks shocked Loke despite being aware to expect a primitive looking group. The most startling of this wild looking group was a massive Centaur warrior bearing what amounted to a deck clearer class bone and flaked obsidian axe that had to weigh close to one hundred pounds.

Orders were snapped in the ancient tongue, but this time Loke understood what was said because of opening himself to recall. **{“Meluzinia, check to see if Sertatsie’s here. If she’s present, get us five balls of instant information transfer magic because this may be a real emergency. Winhermeare, insure this gate hasn’t been opened because Skuhldra is up to her fucked up power trips again. She may have bullied Zayden into letting her use Nadhasti against her will with the thought of getting to the Star Singers in Time Suspension to fix everything to her liking, instead of following our rules.”}**

The shorter of the females snapped open her wings. Loke repressed a desire to groan as he had mistaken the wings for a stiff cloak. The petite female leapt into the air, wing beats creating a small whirlwind of swirling dirt. Things were shaping up to become a true nightmare of the kind none of the modern mages had ever conceived was possible.

'Just what we did not need right now, Fey hybrids who had managed to mature with their wings intact,' Loke thought on a sarcastic note.

 **{“Want me to punish that pair if she’s breaking the rules?}** The tallest, reddish skinned female with matted hair asked of the woman who was snapping orders.

 **{Not if she doesn’t make a wrong move, Winhermeare. My eyes are seeing quite a mess of magical tug of war already, so I think there is a solid chance that the rabid little minx might be somewhat following the plan. Though I’m certain she was counting on getting She Wolf out of sleep instead of me.”}** A sharp nod in response from the very tall woman was all the response given before the red skinned Fey leapt forward so fast that she vanished from Loke’s sight.

The leader of the group whirled toward the Centaur who had noticed him and started pawing the ground. Loke knew Sagittarius was a fusion of Centaur and human Star Singer memories and forms. Yet this male was the largest specimen Loke’s core memory banks had ever encountered. A massive black and white draft horse’s body was topped by a lightly furred, and hulking muscle man’s upper body. As was their way, a single pelt covered the magical being’s forward genitalia which could not be retracted, leaving the rear horse genitals in their retracted state.

Loke did not have time to ponder how he knew Centaurs had two set of genitals or why that was normal for the species. At this moment all Loke had the luxury of considering was that the monster before him easily weighed in the range of a solid ton and a half. Centaurs were fast moving, powerful, damned flexible on their four bone crushing hooves, plus very smart. Their eye sight was better than an eagles, and they did not miss their intended mark.

Thinking fast was Loke’s only option since he could not retreat to the Celestial realm with Lucy’s life on the line. A memory surfaced of how obsessed Centaurs were about their dignity which Loke latched onto as his best ray of hope. Give the beast a reason to think he was about to do something that went against the species main drives, and Loke stood a chance of creating real havoc amongst the ranks to come.

Forcing himself deeper into the core data from the many people he had been born from, Loke hoped he would get the inflections of the guttural ancient tongue right as he spoke with all the contempt he could muster. **{“So, the fucking Fairies aren’t happy butchering a single already helpless innocent by themselves and have called in their burliest backup!”}**

The Centaur backed up a step as his deck clearing sized axe whipped into position to cleave Loke in half once he charged with a livid expression mottling his face. Their leader jumped between them with a hand up and power flowing from her fingertips to form a net weave.

 **{“Reagaltiel? What in the name of the thrice blasted tree are you doing here?”}** she demanded as the Centaur dropped the axe back and relaxed his stance.

Images from Loke’s gut wrenching nightmares surfaced. He was looking at the one person that could not possibly be alive. Not only did it seem the Sacred Saint was alive, somehow Vraylinish had two arms. A quick glance at the one showed that this woman was missing the taboo tattoo she should have been sporting, which meant Loke could assume he was dealing with an imposter.

 **{My name’s Leo. I’m the Celestial Spirit of Regulus and the rest of the star constellation that bears the same name. My duty is to protect the Celestial Mage who is battling for her life at this very moment. Your friends forced us to divide our strength, but we Spirits won’t let you kill our Princess just because it suits your cold blooded whims!}** Loke spat.

All the fury Loke could muster was pitted against the sense of shock and other dangerous emotions that tried to claw to the surface. To prevent himself from losing his focus the lion spirit increased the golden spheres covering his hands. Loke refused to falter when the young woman he knew to be the greatest light in Earthland had her life on the line. Not even his created soul core’s memories were allowed to interfere with his contracted vows. Lucy had saved his life and gotten him a reprieve from death. Loke had vowed to protect Lucy from all harm and he was doing a lousy job of it so far.

The winged Fey dropped to the ground near Vraylinish, or the Sacred Saint’s imposter as the case might be, and handed over a small sphere of magic. The possible imposter lifted the small sphere to the heavy leather headband adorned with raw chunks of un-smelted gold and course stones upon her brow. The moment the sphere touched the raw precious metal and course sewn sinew bound stones, the light was sucked in.

The look on the woman’s face changed dramatically after several seconds. The Centaur was following their leader’s actions and had also pushed a light ball into a similar circlet which likewise disappeared into his mind if Loke were to guess what they doing.

 **{So that’s what’s happening. Meluzinia get Winhermeare her information so she knows how to deal with Skuhldra. I’ve got to save an innocent. Call out the twenty elites, and we’re going to need our best healers. Bring out She Wolf, and a single member of each Star Singer bloodline so we can begin to get some astral chains moved to their correct bloodlines as fast as we can without killing the bonded. RoMordian, we need a perimeter protection set up around the Star Singer’s position where none may harm her further. Leave Skuhldra and Zayden to Winhermeare’s judgement. NOW GO!”}** The woman was snapping orders rapid fire yet again.

Whirling back to face him, Vraylinish surprised Loke by speaking in modern language. “You have my sincerest apologies for Skuhldra’s bad behavior. Of course we will save your Star Singer’s life if at all possible. As she’s holding so many astral chains, then we’re going to have to move fast, and find a way to stabilize her soul core. First, I need to use Star Storm to cleanse to corrosion away from her astral chains so we can get her soul stabilized. Once the healers are out of their sleeping spheres, we can try to heal her soul core. Let’s move.”

The others were already in action as Vraylinish grabbed his wrist and began running toward the scene of the fight between Celestial Spirits, Fairies, and the Abyss Lord’s black magic. The woman continued speaking, “Tell your friends to remain calm so I can get what needs done completed faster. We don’t have time to fight. I am aware now that you do not recall who I am, so try to have some faith in me. I did not vow to spend all eternity fighting the Abyss Lord and losing all that I loved in the world thousands of years ago to lose to that monster now!”

“Fine, but you don’t have to drag me around. I can run on my own god damn it!” Loke snapped as he ripped his arm free and began yelling to get his king’s attention. “This group is here to help. They’re going to try and save our Princess, Majesty!”


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can’t wrangle full days of free time from ‘Real World’ responsibilities so please expect time lags between chapters. In case you’re getting tired of this fight, it is almost over and done so thanks for sticking with it for so long. Thanks to all who are following this story, or have left reviews/comments. I truly enjoy all the input I’ve received. Entering a new writing genre can be quite daunting, so the positive reviews are much appreciated.

CHAPTER 6

 

To say Laxus was enraged was the greatest understatement anyone could make. He grabbed Fairy Tail’s celestial mage to protect her from Natsu’s volatile tempered hold. Having heard everything said, and understanding what was at stake, Laxus’ temper ignited into powerful, instinctive, beastly hatred toward the strangers who claimed they were the reason for Lucy Heartfilia being in such bad shape. Everything wrong with Lucy was happening because of these newcomers past actions. It was wrong on so many levels that Blondie was paying the price for their mistake.

The comforter wrapped woman was going to stay in Laxus’ arms no matter what the impatient salmon haired moron demanded. Natsu’s recklessness and unstable temperament was a dangerous combination with their Celestial Mage being so fragile from illness. Everything about Natsu’s angry tirade was unfounded in Laxus’ opinion. It took far too long for the moron to recognize that his partner was not breathing. Natsu’s lack of attention where his supposed best friend was concerned rendered Laxus near to the state of mouth frothing fury. The fact Natsu claimed Lucy was his best friend pissed Laxus off to the point he was debating the pros and cons of zapping the idiot into an unconscious state when multiple dark vines of power descended with the speed and noise of lightning bolts.

The roaring black bolts slammed into the woman Laxus was holding, and almost ripped her from his grasp. The attack came so fast that Laxus’ reflexes were much faster than his mind’s ability to register the emergency. Instinct had Laxus straining his muscles to the maximum he dared to prevent the black chains from taking Lucy away from him. His bigger size and extra weight came in handy. Because of reflexes well honed he was able to maintain his footing. Yet Laxus knew his slight advantage would not last. Had Natsu been holding Lucy when the bolts hit, both would have been airborne, and yanked into the expanding ebony hued hole above their heads. The back of Laxus mind raced to sort and catalog everything happening to design a working counterattack while gripping the nubile body of his guild mate in a life and death struggle. It was a struggle that Laxus' instincts warned him he should fear losing.

The frilly comforter edge landed on the ground, getting tangled around Laxus’ legs as the chains hauled them closer to the expanding void in the sky. Lucy’s comforter cost Laxus considerable distance before it was kicked free of them both. Knowing he had stumbled too much only increased the simmer of unstoppable fury pounding through Laxus’ body over this uncalled for attack.

Natsu attacked the black encased chains with his dragon’s roar. Gajeel’s hands passed through the powerful black bindings as if they did not exist. The Iron Slayer’s furious profile helped Laxus maintain his rigid self control over his lightning. They could not touch the offending chains physically or with magic it seemed. The evaluation made this fight far more difficult to win but Laxus was nothing if not stubbornly determined to overcome this new enemy.

The Fairy pair smacked Natsu with some sort of spell that prevented him from unleashing another Dragon Roar. The petite pair, holding hands grumbled in tandem, “Save your power. You can’t attack corrupted Astral Chains with your kind of magic. All you’ll do is interfere with us. Leave the void to us. We have the best chance of closing it.”

The dainty pair flew toward the opening, linked their free hands as they hovered above the chains that yanked at Laxus and his impromptu, fast forming Dragon Slayer team. Overlapping power began to rise, spiraling upward as ethereal voices blended in song. Shock waves of raw power began to shiver in the air with oppressive weight and yet whatever spell they were casting had yet to be unleashed. Laxus had to give them credit for being powerful at least. It seemed Fairies might have even invented Union Raid.

Changing strategy, Gajeel slipped his arm between Laxus, and Lucy’s bodies, his arm wrapping behind her neck and under her armpit to lock over the collar bone to criss cross her upper body. He strengthened his hold by dropping his other arm behind her back. Gajeel’s opposite hand locked onto his forearm as he joined Laxus in keeping Lucy from getting snatched. Were it not an emergency, Laxus would have beat the hell out of the black haired man for touching Lucy's chest for any reason, or with any part of his arm at all. Logic reminded Laxus that Gajeel's hold was the safest way to keep from dislocating Lucy’s shoulder, but the burly man would have a hard time not breaking any of her bones if the draw from those invisibly cranking higher chains got much stronger.

As if Gajeel heard Laxus thoughts, he released his lower interlocked arm after the next extreme yank, and turned it into a steel rod. The Iron Dragon Slayer embedded the rod into the ground directly in front of them to fight against the intense drag. His hooked arm’s hand grabbed onto his metal changed, extended arm. With a slight hiss, Gajeel dug fast extending metal claws into his own bicep to retain his grip on their guild mate.

Laxus grimaced over his emotional upheaval. _‘If not for my taking Blondie away when the idiot finally figured out she wasn’t breathing, she would be long gone and dead already. Thank the Gods that I don’t trust Flame Brain’s explosive temper. My intervention insured she’s still with us. She’s so important that I can’t half ass devising counter attacks because she could get killed. Damn it! I gotta save Blondie_.’

Laxus saw they were still losing ground despite Gajeel, and Natsu holding onto Lucy alongside him. Natsu was only in charge of Lucy’s legs, but Laxus wondered how long their teamwork would last. Laxus knew this twisted battle of tug-o-war was not acceptable to Natsu’s nature. Worst of all, Laxus was in pain from the ear-drum splitting, fury-induced screams that came from their guild mates. If he was hurting, Gajeel and Natsu were in similar pain.

The astral chains exerted more force, and all three Slayers’ heels broke beneath the grass roots, ripping the plants out of the ground. The drag increased with each breath Laxus took. Still, Laxus kept his feet planted in front of himself, and leaned back at an angle. Some kind of sphere was coming out of Lucy’s chest, and Laxus had a very bad feeling about that small, iridescent silvery white glow.

‘ _How important is the bubble of light slowly rising out of her chest because of the chains that I can’t touch? The chains seem to be tied to the sphere. Could Blondie die if that expanding light coming out of her gets swept up into the void? Will she survive but lose all of her magic if that light gets stolen? What if that’s the curse seal they were fighting about earlier? Will losing it save Blondie’s life, or not? Fuck, I wish I knew what that glow is so I could do something more for her!_ ’

Natsu started whining which distracted Laxus. “Why do I have to keep hanging onto Luce’s legs? I can’t fight if I’m getting drug around! If I let Luce go, my nose can track her down no matter where that black hole might take her. I can stop the mage doing this to Luce since he can’t be that far away!”

“That black hole’s power is designed to kill Bunny Girl if she hits it, Salamander! Can’t you feel the destructive power pouring out of it?” Gajeel beat Laxus by ranting at their knuckle headed teammate.

“But I want to stop who ever’s doing this to Luce. I can’t save Luce unless I hunt the bastard down and roast him!”

Although Laxus was well aware that Natsu had never been very good at understanding anything outside of fire magic, it infuriated him to the point he began to entertain a genuine desire to murder the smaller Dragon Slayer. “Cutting these fucking chains is our first priority, Dumb Shit! Hunting the asshole down has to wait until this spell’s broken. Blondie’s life is on the line and that’s more important than your need to hit someone. Don’t you dare let go of her legs until our guild mates break the fucking chains that are reeling us in.”

“The jerk should be near here. I’ll find and knock him out to get rid of the spell! So holding onto Luce is pointless. Gramps can help you keep her here while I find the bastard and burn him to a crisp.”

“How can you be so fucking ignorant? Don’t you recognize that this attack is a very powerful, long range spell? The castors are probably working this spell in another town. It takes several S class mages working together to cast anything this complex. We have to break the spell from here or Blondie’s dead! Unless we get attacked directly, just hold onto her legs and shut the fuck up!” Laxus rasped from deep in his chest, the voice reserved for when he was so angry he could not yell.

To prevent his lightning from escaping his control to zap Natsu unconscious when they most needed his reckless strength, Laxus attuned to the recesses of his thoughts to grasp where his rage started.

‘ _Ash Brains has watered porridge for brain power outside of a fight so I expect to see Blondie limping into the Guild whenever Team Natsu does any job. Blondie probably does the thinking for Team Natsu when it’s only her and Salamander before they start actively fighting. Erza knows decent strategy, so I’ve never worried about Team Natsu when she’s with them, but now . . . If this immature prick can’t figure out what his priorities need to be, I’m going to ask Gramps to move Blondie onto my team for her own safety. If Blondie really is an extremely rare mage, Droopy eyes and Flame Thrower will get her killed with their stupid, reckless, competitive stunts. Sounds like Star Singers can use really ancient, lost magic. So that Blondie can harness her true power, we really need to get more information about where records and spells might be found. If Blondie learns to use more types of magic, then she might be able to protect herself until I arrive to take out her enemies.’_

Realization set in. Laxus felt a growing urge to unleash his lightning magic on Natsu because, like it or not, he was struggling to deny how attached he was to Lucy. Natsu’s attitude felt like a vile betrayal of the woman’s trust; a trust Laxus craved. Images slamming through his mind were focused upon Lucy’s gorgeous smile, and echoes of her tingle inducing, musical laughter. Had it been anyone else Laxus was trying to save, Natsu’s ideals would have been reasonable to a point. From the corner of his vision, Laxus glimpsed a flash of ginger and saw Loke grabbing the chains which none of them could touch.

“What the fuck are these bindings? Blondie’s in major trouble. Doesn’t anyone in the guild know a way to break these damned things before they kill her?” Laxus roared, looking at the Celestial Spirit who did not answer as he dug in his heels while yanking back on the largest chain in the group to help them.

‘ _Why can’t anyone but Celestial Spirits grab these damned chains if Zeref’s underlings or Zeref himself cast this spell to kill Blondie so they can free that demon? Can Loke even break the damned things? Blondie doesn’t have enough time to waste on playing this twisted game of tug-o-war. The only thing we can do to turn the tables is get rid of the chains coming out of Blondie’s chest as far as I can tell.’_

Laxus glanced over the impromptu battlefield as the tugging eased slightly thanks to Loke’s actions. They needed to get the chains dealt with first. Accomplish that and Laxus could set a counter attack into motion. The two dragons were hurling magical breath attacks of diverse types at the sky void. Both were having zero effect toward changing the battle’s tides. Fairy Tail mages were attacking the black sphere above their heads with everything they could muster with the same disheartening result.

Without warning, multiple Celestial Spirits winked into the clearing and grabbed onto the untouchable chains. Their power was forcing the chains to change color before Laxus’ eyes, yet nothing more comforting was happening. Loke must have called them to try and save their master for which Laxus felt grudging gratitude. A couple explosions unleashed by the pair of Fairies flying above them did little more than make standing far harder for Laxus and his team. If not for Lucy’s pink haired maid, all of them would have been airborne and drug into the death gate.

Gajeel maintained his hold on Lucy without complaint, although he glanced back to shoot Laxus an unfathomable look before facing forward again. Ignoring the look, Laxus wracked his intellect to deal with everything happening to his favorite female mage, without getting her physically hurt.

“What the fuck’s that coming out of Luce’s chest??” Natsu demanded out of the blue in a quavering voice.

“Metalicana told us earlier that chains would appear if Bunny Girl was about to die. They gotta be what he was talking about, Dumb Shit. Just focus on keeping your hold on her body and let her Spirits handle the damned spell already. They’re better suited to the job since we can’t physically grab the damned things!”

“I want to fight who ever’s attacking Luce, Metal Freak! I’m not doing anything to save her by pulling on her legs like this!”

“Shut the fuck up and don’t you dare even think about letting go of Blondie’s legs, Flame Thrower! If you let go we lose her body and then we’ve got no chance at all of saving her!” Laxus yelled at the impatient punk.

Makarov’s voice filtered through all the shouted spells surrounding them. “What happens when Lucy’s silver colored soul comes out of that protective sphere, Dragons?”

A glance at the Celestial Mage still caged within his arms by her waist widened Laxus eyes. Comprehension of what was being drawn from her body slammed into his brain. The knowledge provoked Laxus’ lightning magic into writhing and boiling inside his blood because he was helpless to stop it from happening. He directed his power across his back to protect his favorite girl from additional pain. Fairy Tail’s most beloved, biggest hearted member was having her soul ripped from her body, and the strongest mages in the guild were powerless to stop it. In his mind, Laxus swore that he would kick the shit out of the offenders who cursed Lucy’s bloodline long before her birth once the woman was safe.

One of the ancients spoke with an odd accent to the spirits who were changing the chains colors and in a couple cases, gaining actual slack to relieve the strain on Lucy’s body and soul. “The poor woman’s dead already. Her soul core’s breaking as it’s being ripped from her body! All we can do at this point is sever the chains and attach them to the spares.”

“Fuck you, Nadhasti! You keep your fucking Fairy controlled paws off of Lucy! She’s not dead, and we will save her!” Loke screamed at the petite ancient.

“Have you lost your mind? Her soul seat’s fracturing under the strain. I don’t give a damn about whether or not you can handle the truth right now. We’ve got to keep the Abyss Lord from getting loose, and she’s no longer able to feed the Blood Seals. Zayden, Skuhldra, and I can shore up and feed the Seals long enough to attach them to new Star Singers. If we cut the chains now, we can stabilize the prison dimension in time!”

Terror settled into Laxus heart as he listened to the new argument about how to deal with the chains. Stabilizing the prison and getting the chains off of Lucy’s soul sounded great to him, but the thought that Lucy was already dead filled him with an indescribable agony. What were Loke and the others going to do? The giant, armor clad spirit that arrived grabbed onto the chain Loke was fighting to slacken Laxus noticed while concentrating on the verbal sparring of the two groups. Fear was numbing Laxus because the ancients were saying that Lucy’s soul was fracturing and she was already dead.

“Leave Lucy Heartfilia alone. Loke’s right about our old friend. Princess Lucy isn’t dead yet, and we will find a way to save her life. We Celestial Spirits owe our old friend a debt far greater than you can imagine. Risking the prison leaking some of the Abyss Lord’s power to save our beloved and most powerful ally is a worthwhile risk that we will take!”

The rising panic began to subside with the giant’s words. If anyone knew whether or not Lucy was dead, it would be the spirits who obeyed her summons Laxus reasoned. The strain was starting to ease as the chain colors shifted more, and the slack increased. Lucy’s soul was not completely horizontal, and began to sag toward her physical body a bit.

“You fools don’t have the right to risk this world’s fate to fawn over a mostly dead female!” The Faires blended voices hit a painful pitch as they shrieked.

The Fairy pair began chanting in their native tongue. Without knowing what was said, Laxus tensed even more. He considered the possibility of shifting his and Lucy’s bodies into lightning to try and escape whatever they were planning, but had no idea as to whether or not it would end in Lucy’s death if he tried to evade whatever was coming.

The long mustached giant spoke. “Loke, I can manage both chains. I’m entrusting Lucy’s survival to you. Stop them before they can force their desires upon us all.”

“They won’t touch a hair of our princess’s head, Majesty.” Loke answered as he released his chain and ducked under the much larger spirit’s arm.

“Hey, is there a way to break the chains that are stuck to Blondie’s chest because her soul is getting yanked out of her body?” Laxus demanded of the Celestial Spirits closest to his position in hopes of spurring them into action.

“If we break these chains, Princess will die. Her Soul Core is being pulled out of her body but we are shifting the power in the chains and shoring up her life force and magic in time. Princess will be saved. None of us know where another mortal descendant of His Majesty is right now, so we cannot take any of the chains off of her yet. Breaking these chains also means another will get attacked by multiple chains’ recoiling to find a much needed power source to keep the prison closed.” The flat voice of the maid outfit wearing Spirit answered.

“Virgo’s correct. We don’t dare act rashly. Know that we can save Lucy by forcing the black power of the Abyss Lord back where it belongs and close this gate he's opened. Our power is stabalizing Lucy’s Soul Core although we have reason to fear it may be irreversibly damaged by this kind of strain. We’ll do everything we can for our old friend.” The giant mustache wearing spirit took the time to explain.

The remaining spirits’ powerful pulls on the chains helped to keep Laxus, and Gajeel’s feet on the ground, yet Laxus wondered how much longer Lucy could withstand the agony of being pulled out of her physical body this way. The way he and Gajeel were forced into yanking back on her body had done plenty of damage Laxus was sure. It was going to require Wendy’s top skills to heal Lucy’s body, but could the youngest Dragon Slayer do anything for a soul? The gold power encasing Lucy kept her knocked out so she was not screaming, but that made little difference to Laxus. The normally smiling woman was being ripped apart as far as Laxus was concerned. Someone wanted Lucy Heartfilia dead in the most inhuman and vicious way imaginable. The only mercy Laxus saw in the situation was that Lucy was not screaming directly into his eardrums. Then again, Laxus would have let her scream in his ears until they bled if it increased her chances to survive this cruel attack.

Another blast of power slammed into them all from the right side. Laxus could barely keep his feet on the ground even with extra backup and it made him angrier than ever. Despite how hard Laxus was clinging to Lucy, his arms continued sliding down her body. Only then did he realize Natsu was missing. Laxus feared breaking Lucy’s hip bones if he tightened his arms any more.

Fury over his favorite Fairy Tail mage’s painful predicament set in. Everything said before this fight began had explained to Laxus why Lucy was consistently targeted by every major Dark Guild over a year and a half, or possibly longer. All the members of Fairy Tail had failed Lucy Heartfilia one time too many. Although it made him shudder, Laxus included himself in the list of failures due to his once blind arrogance. The ones Laxus was maddest at remained Team Natsu. They were the ones who should have been the most concerned for Lucy’s welfare from the first abduction. Their concern should have grown with each attack that followed the first kidnapping attempt. Instead, all of them continued to put their teammate in direct lines of danger with their combined insistence that Lucy was as strong as each of them.

In truth, Lucy was probably much stronger than all of them combined if what Laxus had deciphered was correct. However, the connection to some distant prison meant Lucy could only tap a fraction of her actual power. Drained of the bulk of her magic, Lucy Heartfilia called upon and fed power to multiple spirits at the same time without complaint. The reality of how much power had to be involved was staggering if the power trying to haul Lucy to her death was any indicator of the enemy's strength. Such an insane magical force had probably added to the speed of Lucy’s Magical Vitality Deprivation illness. The reality of how crippled the blond mage had been all along meant that Lucy should never have to drain her remaining magic in battle because so much was riding upon the woman’s health.

Loke’s voice cut through all the ruckus as the Lion Spirit shouted, “This group is here to help. They’re going to try and save our Princess, Majesty!”

The Celestial Spirit King whipped his head in the direction of the screamed announcement. Before Laxus could get an inkling of what was coming, a fur wearing cave woman with a massive club like weapon was dropping onto the chains, arms outstretched as bizarre sounds flowed from her lips. A second later, the heavy musk of an unwashed body struck Laxus’ nose and made it twitch. Brilliant light almost as iridescent as Lucy’s soul exploded from the woman’s body as a subtle music tickled Laxus’ ears.

The Spirit King gasped. “How can the Sacred Saint even be here, Loke?”

Seems a few of the warriors we believed dead when we called upon the Star Phoenix actually survived the direct attack of the Abyss Lord thousands of years ago. Winhermeare, RoMordian, Meluzinia, and even She Wolf with her multiple Soul Bonds are still alive. Vraylinish has already ordered the Bane Elites to be freed from their time suspension spheres and brought through the gate Nadhasti was coerced into opening. Seems Vraylinish made extra preparations to counter Skuhldra’s bad habits if she overwhelmed Zayden’s light. The order of opening was changed around so Nadhasti could only open Vraylinish’s sphere first.”

The flat and emotionless voice of Virgo caught Laxus’ attention. “Vraylinish was always very cunning in her dealings with the Royal Sheemastra Fairies. Her caution is paying off even if they are only Cliff Clan Fairies.”

The drag upon Lucy’s soul collapsed as tingling yet oppressive power drove Laxus, Gajeel, and almost all the Celestial Spirits to their knees. Spots flashed before Laxus eyes as he tried to get air into pressure compressed lungs.

As the pressure began to subside, Laxus forced his head up to see the cave woman had been joined by another one. The new woman was taller and had reddish skin with twig and straw matted hair of an indeterminate color. The musk of unwashed bodies and poorly tanned hides increased considerably to offend Laxus sensitive nose. However it was what he saw that most upset Laxus about these new comers.

Stars within their constellations gleamed and whirled around the two women as if they were the center of the universe. Around several of the flowing stars within each constellation that whirled in and out of Laxus sight, planets revolved in a stately dance of many colors and sizes. Each pass overhead of the constellations with all their planets and stars conjoined as they whirled overhead making Laxus dizzy enough to generate motion sickness.

Power from the rapidly expanding images riddled the ground with golf ball sized holes. The black hole shrank and vansihed, but the replacement power was a force that made it difficult to stay conscious. Luckily, Laxus had been able to roll to the side as they went down, so Lucy was draped across his chest. Concerned the power would do additional harm, Laxus twisted to the side, covering Lucy's limp body. Once the worst of the magical power stopped slamming into his body, Laxus sat up with Lucy held against his chest as he shielded her from the residual magical energy.

“I’d forgotten just how powerful Galaxy Storm really is when it’s manifested. Shit but that hurts!” One of Lucy’s male spirits complained as his long segmented tail twitched.

“We’ve not used Galaxy Storm in several millennia so that isn’t all that surprising, Scorpio.”

Loke’s familiar voice caught Laxus’ attention. “Why the fuck does my gut say that we’re dealing in people who often overdo everything? The Sacred Saint said she would use Star Storm, not Galaxy Storm according to you.” Another male spirit snapped at Loke.

“You had to dig deep into the mixed up memories to recall the language didn’t you, Loke?” The goat headed Spirit asked.

“Do you really have to ask such a stupid question, Capricorn? Of course I had to dig into the broken remains of all the souls that form me so I’d understand what was going on when Nadhasti opened the fucking gate. Hope Natsu’s okay because he got nailed with some Gate Clearing spell that Bane Warriors cast before exiting.” The Lion did not look well as Laxus twisted to see Loke better. The man had his head in his hands as he sat curled in on himself upon the ground.

The shorter of the cave pair was speaking in guttural tones interspersed with sibilant hisses. The pair had divided up the chains which were now locked within their arms, and shimmering with the glitter of white gold. Laxus saw the ball he recognized as being how the maimed dragon spoke float in front of the pair. The shorter of the pair spoke again. The red skinned female had a chain in each hand, while the smaller cave woman held the thickest through thinnest of the remaining chains. The dragon’s telepathic voice responded in an unknown language. A much larger energy ball slid higher above everyone struggling to get back on their feet.

The next words the strange cave woman said morphed into understandable words. “Nadhasti, healers awakened yet?”

“I’m working as fast as I can since Winhermeare knocked Skuhldra out. Although, I can’t complain about being back in charge of my own mind, it does cut my power a fair amount until I readjust.”

“Winhermeare can help you since we got the chains stabilized. If possible bring out Braydon’s Soul Bonded group first. They are the best at life soul magic. The young woman is stuck with a large number of chains, so she’s probably a Fey. I can’t imagine any pure humans with the kind of astral strength required to handle five full, plus a spliced, hermetic seal chain. Power drain would knock many Soul Bonded pairs of pure Fairies on their asses.”

“Perhaps she has as many Soul Bonds as our She Wolf?” The ruddy skinned woman spoke while handing over her two chains.

The Spirit King answered. “Soul Bonding has been lost for several thousand years. It died out when the Fey became more human than immortal and lost the capability to shape their souls. Lucy Heartfilia is a very strong human who has enough love within herself to overcome the expected drain. Her capacity for love actively makes her energy painful for the Abyss Lord which forces him away from the seals that her life feeds, Saint Vraylinish.”

The shorter woman shrugged. “Do you actually recognize me, or are you as confused as Reagaltiel, Highest and Holy Kainon?”

“Seems that I must give you sorrowful tidings, Vraylinish. Reagaltiel’s last day of life is the only easily accessed memories for our Celestial Spirit Leo. Although Leo looks somewhat like Reagaltiel, he is many half destroyed souls that the Star Phoenix stuck together into a new spirit. It took many centuries for Leo to become a true individual with his own personality and sense of self after the chains were established. The Phoenix chose Reagaltiel’s face because he was the most powerful Star Singer for the Leo Temple, and best understood how to chain the Abyss Lord. Reagaltiel was hit with the full brunt of the Phoenix’s true power and was overwhelmed by such unlimited creation force before the rest of us finished ascending to help with shared shielding.”

“By the thrice blasted world tree! Why did the man have to do something so reckless and break his promise to survive and return?”

Loke’s choked off snort had Laxus looking over at the orange haired man. The man’s face was pasty pale and he was sweating. Shaking his head several times, Loke closed his eyes. In a soft voice, Loke answered, “One of the few clear images of the last Abyss Lord fight involves a complete arm with chunks of the shoulder blade intact falling several paces in front of one of my stronger soul shard’s positions. The arm was recognized as their loved one’s. The insane amount of damage was very bad. The still flailing amputation included a very elaborate tattoo of a Fairy that had twisted and broken wings. The image remains quite haunting because that shard had such a strong and strange reaction to the sight. The mate was gone so nothing was left to lose was the main emotion and thought involved with that piece of the nightmare I’ve had since I became aware of existing, Sacred Saint. I’m aware of who several of you are due to digging into many different race memories that have survived, but I’m only Leo, the Lion, not the actual person you once knew.”

“Blood of the damned! Reagaltiel saw my ripped off arm that took several moons for the healers to recreate?”

Loke nodded at her questioning tone.

“Even I thought I was dead when Sertatsie and I got hit with the brunt of that attack. It shredded both of us bad enough to end our fighting for some time. Tragic that he died, and yet Reagaltiel was always a very strong willed man determined to save those who could not care for their selves. He did save this world, so I cannot truly fault his actions.”

From the corner of his eye, Laxus saw several short people running over as the woman that the Spirits were calling Sacred Saint stared forlornly at the ground. Laxus could not help but feel sad for the woman who thought she had found her long lost love before Blondie's Spirits crushed her dreams. A shudder slid down Laxus spine as he cuddled Lucy’s unmoving, gold power encased shell. Was the same going to happen to Lucy? Would she lose her life, and become nothing but fragmented memories such as Loke had described?

The three stopped in front of him, looking at the number of chains attached. Gesturing for him to loosen his hold, the trio of winged Fairies seemed like they wanted to take Lucy. Dragon Instinct rose to the fore and Laxus unleashed a chest deep, threatening rumble.

“Are you like Flint? Is this your chosen then?” The tallest of the three asked in a bird like, exotic lilting twitter that the sphere above seemed to be translating into understandable words.

Sertatsie’s orb shimmered and shifted in colors. “Dragon Masters are no more. This male is a new type of Dragon Slayer created by humans without the aide of us dragons.”

A hum from the three greeted the news as Laxus narrowed his eyes and glared at the unwelcome sight of more trouble makers. If they were anything like the last pair, Laxus was not going to let them anywhere near Lucy.

It was a shock when he heard Loke’s voice. “My core memories recall you three. Braydon, Embradia, and Kendren are your names if I’m not mixing up memories.”

The male tilted his head toward the Spirit. “You are correct. We had little contact with Reagaltiel though so it is a surprise that we are recalled.”

The Sacred Saint spoke quickly. “Leo is not Reagaltiel. It seems that my Bonded died, and this Celestial Spirit was created by the Phoenix from salvaged pieces of many who died when Tenrou was reduced to an island.”

“Not sure who’s memories happen to know these three, but they’re all safe, Lightning Rod. They were always trying to protect the other races from their crueler Fairy kinsmen. They always believed that true peace could only come when all races stopped thinking they were better than the others. I doubt they would ever think to harm Lucy, or anyone here.”

Laxus released the breath he had not realized he was holding. His arms relaxed enough to let Lucy slip into a prone position across his lap, head resting on his forearm. The trio set to work immediately. The male and two females were quick to break apart the time suspension magic.

Lucy gasped for air and gagged when she could not breathe as her dangerous illness reasserted itself. Shudders wracked her frame, almost jerking her out of Laxus hold. The trio worked fast to get the fracture line sporting soul back inside Lucy’s body. As the iridescent, silvery white glowing sphere descended back into Lucy’s chest, the woman began to breathe a little easier.

“Vraylinish, we have a difficulty in healing this woman’s soul. To keep her soul from shattering, we must use Soul Bond so another can lend her their strength as her soul has no strength left. She will shatter and die if she must endure feeding the seals, or we attempt to unlock the chains to move the non bloodline chains. Something else is embedded in her soul that we cannot tamper with until her soul is stronger.”

The Sacred Saint responded, “Then we must find appropriate beings who are willing to share their strength with her.” Raising her head and taking a deep breath, Vraylinish bellowed, “Who here is willing to share their life force and strength with the young woman you were fighting to preserve earlier? Without the Soul Bond she has no chance of survival.”

Almost before their leader was done speaking, Laxus grabbed the middle female who was focused on pouring a cool blue green energy into Lucy’s stomach. “What do I need to do to save Blondie?”

Without warning, Natsu was screaming, “Where’s Luce? Is she okay?”

The trio looked at Laxus as he ignored Natsu’s shrieks and bellows. The one male and the female on the opposite side of the middle female touched the opposite sides of his chest and Lucy’s at the same time. Heat as sharper than any bolt of lightning flowed into his body and coiled around what felt like his heart and spine. For a moment Laxus could not breathe. He felt a moment of true terror that they were going to kill him. The coiling, tingling power seemed to reverse, a minor tearing sensation shifted into a feeling of being tugged toward Lucy followed. Dizziness washed through Laxus system as he felt as if he was reduced to a boneless state. His body went numb, head spinning so much that Laxus slipped into unconsciousness.

~~oo0oo~~


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks to anyone who starts following this story, or gives me feedback about it. Reviews are always much appreciated, including constructive varieties. :) I do not own Fairy Tail, but I’m glad Hiro Mashima created this little universe within which my plot bunnies can rampage to their hearts’ desires. I’m glad my adult kids demanded I watch this series. Will be posting heavily revised chapters soon that includes all the stuff I stripped from the Ffnet edition of this same story due to the purge habits of that site. Book 2 is in the starting stages as this first book of the Star Singers Universe is getting wrapped up despite my being so ill of late.

CHAPTER 7

“Master, we decided to pay Lucy’s membership fees this month since she’s injured.” Erza spoke as Gray was shifting from one foot to the other beside her.

Makarov took the clearly marked envelopes she offered. “You’re both good friends to do this for Lucy.”

“Are they really going to be okay, Gramps? I mean, we know Flame Brain will be back to doing missions the day after he wakes up, . . . unless he never wakes up. But, Lucy’s different. She got really badly hurt this time. I’m kind of scared that she won’t be able to use any magic after what those bastards did to her.” Gray snarled, eyes shooting a resentful glare toward the ground floor’s foreign occupants.

Sick of hearing the same complaints and questions, Makarov stood on the banister and bellowed for everyone’s attention. “Listen up, Brats! Wendy says our guild mates are stable this morning and are okay even though they’re going to continue sleeping for a while. Lucy is getting stronger and starting to stabilize because of the energy Natsu and Laxus volunteered to share with her. None of them are in any danger that Wendy can sense. Porlyusica is in agreement with Wendy that they are fine. As I’ve stated repeatedly for two days now, both of our guild mates volunteered to be part of this unknown healing spell to save our Celestial Spirit Mage’s life. We’ve been told the possible outcomes by our guests. They’ve told us that only those three can decide how strong, or weak this Soul Binding spell will be once they awaken. Don’t make me repeat myself any more today! For those of you who are still angry over Laxus and Natsu making the same decision, the only ones you should be mad at are them. Stop glaring at the Ancients because they performed the spell to save Lucy’s life. Being afraid of their unknown magic is no excuse for being rude.”

With utmost grace, Vraylinish, the scarred leader of the Bane Warriors, dropped onto the second story floor beside Makarov. She landed with an almost silent footfall despite having leapt from the ground floor. Considering her previous poorly tanned hides from before her clean up and make over, Makarov could scarce believe he was dealing with the same woman. Her matted hair had been washed and combed until it glowed. Her hair was a medium warm umber mixed with golden honey highlights cascading halfway down Vraylinish’s back. All the ancients had opted to wear serviceable clothing instead of seeking to make fashion statements. The earth hued work pants and sturdy button up shirt that Vraylinish now wore allowed for full range of motion without restriction. Without the grime coating she had worn before, Vraylinish’s skin was borderline alabaster white.

As was her custom, Vraylinish’s arms were instantly pinioned behind her back, hands gripping opposite forearms as if she were tied up. Loke had explained the custom as meaning no hostile intent was involved, so Makarov mirrored the gesture to reassure the woman that everything was fine. Both nodded before Makarov returned to lecturing his brats.

“Everyone heard Natsu demand that the Fairies perform the spell to strengthen Lucy’s soul upon himself. All this guild’s members know that Natsu ignored all objections due to not being familiar with such an ancient magic. Some of us were present to hear him insist that he would do anything to save Lucy. Even if everyone didn’t hear Laxus give his consent, I know my grandson was the first to fight for Lucy when that void spell attacked her. Like it or not, Laxus did make the choice to help Lucy recover. It’s time for all of you to honor his choice and stop acting like immature idiots.”

Bickslow’s fists hit the table as he leapt up, overturning his chair. “Flame Brain’s got nothing but hot air between his ears so we expect him to do stupid things. Laxus sama isn’t like Natsu! We’re his team and we don’t like knowing that Laxus sama’s been magically chained to that weak little cheerleader! Why would Laxus sama volunteer to be some kind of life support system for Cosplayer? None of their lies fit the man we know better than the rest of you. Laxus-sama wouldn’t agree to do something irreversible! They must’ve lied to him because we know he wouldn’t agree to get stuck for life to someone so weak!”

“Kendren was there when he asked what he needed to do to save the one he calls Blondie. To insure there was no foul play involved, I’ve double checked all their memories, and their memories are in agreement. Your Laxus did demand a way to save your Star Singer’s life. He has a compatible life force, so they used Soul Binding magic. I’ve already given them their punishment for not informing your friend of all levels of possible change that can occur with any level of Soul Binding magic. We did not know the knowledge of our magic has been lost for a very long time when we arrived, so fault lies with both sides.” Vraylinish responded before Makarov found his voice.

“Fuck you and your excuses, Bitch! As weak as Cosplayer is, Laxus could die because of her! If he does, it’s your fucking fault! I haven’t seen you do anything that could be considered punishment either!”

To prevent the Seith mage from launching his babies at Vraylinish, Makarov was quick to speak up. “Bickslow, sit down and listen for once. Vraylinish has a valid point. None of them knew that their ancient magic was lost to us. They worked from a faulty assumption when they cast the spell, but it was never malicious in it's intent. All the Ancients who are here right now are finding our world as overwhelming as we find their Centaurs and Fairies. As to punishment, I believe Vraylinish has settled on what it is, and will execute it when the time is right. I’ve met many honorable people in my lifetime. I know better than to accuse the Sacred Saint of lying because she won’t.”

“No punishment can undo what those fuckers did to Laxus sama!” Bickslow roared as he glared at Vraylinish, hands fisted at his sides. “It's a raping of their souls, Master!”

“You speak truth, Bickslow. Your Master also speaks truth. I have accepted responsibility for my people’s accidental wrong doing. However, both men stepped forward when I asked who was willing to be soul bonded to your Star Singer to save her life. Although they did not know what Soul Bonding entailed, they both chose to risk their lives for her survival. I have done what must be done to remind my warriors and healers that they must explain all things magical from now on. We cannot undo what has been done, but your leader will be far stronger in the weeks to come. As each chain that does not belong to your Star Singer gets placed with the correct bloodline, her powers will grow at an alarming rate. It is her rate of power growth we will have to monitor to insure all of your comrades’ safety as we undo the mess.”

Freed grabbed Bickslow’s arm and silenced him with a glare. “What do you mean when you say that Laxus sama is going to get far stronger over the next few weeks?”

“You are not familiar with astral or veil chain magic, but we know both intimately. The chains everyone saw during the attack have the job of draining magic from the person that they are attached to. The chains transfer the power taken away from the person who has such astral chains which are not normally seen. In the case of your Lucy, the chains feed a magic that must be maintained so that the demon remains trapped no matter how long it struggles to break free. Each bit of damage the demon does to the trap has to be repaired. It takes much raw power to fix every bit of harm to demon does to the cage and chains that keep it immobile.”

“So you’re saying that if you remove those untouchable chains from Lucy san, she’ll become more powerful, correct?” Freed asked with a very calculating look on his face.

“Yes. As your Lucy is freed from each Astral Chain not of her bloodline, her power will automatically increase. The Soul Binding magic will balance the excess power between her body and both men who are sharing their life force with her. As you know, when you run out of magic, you must rest for the power to recover. Something similar will happen with Lucy despite the damage that was done to her soul core. The difference is that nothing will be draining that power away from her soul with each chain we move. The amount of drain she has experienced during her lifetime will determine the amount of power she will generate for the rest of her life. The Soul Bond will activate to make all three equal in power.”

Freed propped his chin between forefinger and thumb as he slowly worked through the information. “For the weaker people involved, an unfair power up happens that exceeds their normal magical abilities. The same magic leaches magic from the stronger members to create the power up for the weaker parties. Correct?”

“Yes. It also protects those who have very powerful and unstable magic power from dying when people of similar soul songs are bound to each other through a piece of their soul being exchanged. Astral Chains suck unbelievable power from the one tied to the cage, so we have reason to be worried that Lucy’s magic will be difficult to curb once the chains are removed. It is doubtful that her physical body could survive the power exploding through her form without the two men who can bleed off the excess power and keep her stable.”

“My biggest problem with this is knowing that Laxus sama will be trapped with Natsu and Lucy for the rest of his life. You even warned us that they might lose parts of their normal personalities because of the spell cast on them. Yet you’re claiming that Laxus sama will get stronger. How can you be so certain?” Freed asked with a bitter tone.

“It is hard to explain without demonstrating Veil Chain, the weak form of the Astral Chain spell. We use Veil Chains to drain excess magic that threatens our lives as Fey. Unlike Soul Binding magic, or Astral Chain magic, Veil Chain can be banished completely at will. Still, it does drain away magic power constantly, so would let you feel how the reverse works once magic is no longer bled off. To see how things will change, and why your Lucy is terrifying to us would require you to trust long enough to experience Veil Chains for yourself.”

Evergreen snapped her closed fan on the table. “Do you think we’d actually risk getting incapacitated after seeing our Leader put into a coma? What kind of fools do you take us for, Stranger?”

Makarov knew Vraylinish was trying to ease everyone’s minds, but it was not working because of the Thunder God Tribe’s vehemence. “Everyone, that’s enough arguing for today! Trust Laxus’ safety and recovery to Wendy’s, and Porlyusica’s capable hands. If anything goes wrong, they will be the first to alert us. Go on missions to blow some excess steam instead of sitting here being angry over a misunderstanding. If anything does go wrong, I’ll have Warren contact anyone who desires to know about it right away. Everyone needs to get back to work. Moping isn’t going to wake them up any faster. Stop looking for excuses to cause trouble for our guests, Brats. His Majesty is coming here to straighten this mess out. I won’t have anyone here who isn’t willing to behave when our King arrives! Dismissed.”

As Makarov settled back onto the bannister rail, he retrieved his precariously balanced beer mug. Vraylinish tilted her head at an angle. Figuring she had something to discuss, the guild Master swept a hand to the railing and patted it in an offer to join him. The long limbed, muscular woman balanced on the balls of her feet while hunkering down beside him a second later.

Erza spoke with a sketchy bow before the woman could begin talking. “Master, we’ll take a mission as you suggest. Lucy can’t pay her rent since she’s in the infirmary, and we don’t know how long she’s going to be unconscious. Taking a mission will let us help her keep her apartment at least.” With those words, she grabbed Gray’s arm and hauled him toward the mission board.

Gray protested, “Can we really leave with things like this? I mean, they’re our teammates . . .”

“Where will Lucy stay if she loses her apartment, Gray? We all spend a lot of time at Lucy’s. It’s our team’s second home. We won’t let our teammate down when Lucy is in the most need of our help. We’re taking a new mission, and trusting that Warren will contact us if we are needed. I'll also take my communication lacrima so we can check in on Lucy and Natsu's condition while we're away.”

“Half the reason Lucy’s always short on money is because Ash Breath eats all of her food. The only reason she’s always short on rent jewels is because of his stomach.” Gray shot back in a voice loud enough to capture the whole guild’s attention.

“Once Natsu wakes up, he’ll do an extra mission to compensate for his eating habits as always. We all know he eats the most. Having to buy so much food every day makes it hard for Lucy to pay her rent, . . . but we also tend to eat at her place. We’re all guilty of making things difficult for her.” Erza responded in her loudest, sharpest monotone.

Gray snorted but said no more as they began to look for a mission. It did not surprise Makarov that Erza was the most aware of the hardships they caused Lucy, or that she was enforcing a compensation system. Everyone attached to the guild was familiar with Lucy’s bitter complaints about Natsu’s bottomless stomach, and ill mannered ways. Several of Natsu’s quirks drove Lucy insane. However, breaking and entering seemed to be a collective bad habit of all her team mates, not just Natsu.

At one point Mirajane suggested that Lucy eat exclusively at the guild until Natsu stopped raiding her cupboards as a means of saving money for her rent each month. It had not taken long for Lucy’s guilt to set in because of Natsu’s compliment about how he enjoyed her cooking. Guilt and embarrassment had won over Lucy, who returned to the original pattern of buying food she could not afford to try and satisfy Natsu’s bottomless pit appetite.

Life had never felt so unreal to Makarov as it did while watching half of Team Natsu stomp over to Mirajane for their approval stamp on the job Erza had chosen. The Ancients’ awakening had thrown the Guild into unprecedented levels of chaos. Makarov watched all of his children who decided to obey his order shuffling downstairs. Several of his children continued shooting furtive glances at their guests as their collective anger continued to simmer. Their worry and fear remained a palpable thing.

A silent prayer for Natsu, Lucy, and Laxus to awaken soon flashed through Makarov’s mind as he took a healthy swig from his mug. It was not as if Makarov could blame his children for their reactions over three of their family members being trapped within an unknown spell. Even Makarov found it nerve wracking that his grandson, and most cherished Celestial Spirit Mage were absent. He even missed Natsu’s reckless challenges, and constant fights between the hot headed Slayer and the Ice Make Mage. The only positive to the quiet was that Makarov did not have to order new benches and tables to be delivered early each morning, nor help Mirajane and Elfman remove broken furniture before locking up each night.

Vraylinish broke Makarov from his thoughts. “Speaking of work, my people are getting restless. We have been eating much of your food stores because we were so drained when we left the time stopping spell. We will gladly hunt and replace your meat if you will direct us to the closest hunting grounds. It could balance things faster between my people and yours if we do something to contribute to your tribe's well being.”

“Hunting for survival is not normal these days, Vraylinish. We get all of our food from the grocers here in town. The guild can manage to pay for your meal expenses a little longer. In fact, His Majesty, and Sabertooth’s Celestial Spirit Mage should be arriving today. We’ll be able to sort everything out after they arrive.” Makarov spoke in a soothing voice.

“We do not understand your ways, so it is hard for us to feel comfortable. Why is it not everyone’s duty to find food so that all may survive? You use words that do not translate for us also. Because we do not know how to be, it makes us uneasy.” Vraylinish protested.

“I’ll try to explain how Fairy Tail works. As I am the Guild Master, all the members pay a monthly membership fee to me which goes toward all the things needed to run the guild smoothly, including my salary. Every job on that board over there has a listing fee that comes directly to this guild from every client who contracts our aide. The listing fee only gets paid if the mission is accepted by members of this guild. The various fees cover food and booze purchases for the guild members to have when they’re here. Of course they have to reimburse the guild for their food and booze out of their earnings to insure the guild can pay Mirajane her wages for being the bar keeper and cook.”

“So how does this make our getting fed and clothed work?”

“Feeding and clothing your warriors for a couple weeks will be a little more expensive than usual, but don’t worry about it. We’ll get everything resolved so your people can begin earning your upkeep. Once my Brats wake up, and the guild members see that they’re fine, the fear and anger will evaporate. Unless the King forbids it, I’ll assign one of your people to one of our friendlier guild members who knows the system. In time you’ll all master reading, writing, mathematics, and how to handle finances so you can do your own missions without a mentor. I asked Levy to start teaching your people the basics so you can adjust to this era easier. For the moment, your warriors are trapped here until His Majesty arrives and makes a decision about handling this Abyss Lord problem.”

“I still do not understand several words you used. What does purchase mean?”

Makarov sighed. “It is where you give someone a set amount of jewels, our specific money, for a specific item that you want to own. Purchase and buy mean almost the same thing, Vraylinish.”

“You have mentioned jewels before, yet I cannot understand how the small patterned rocks and painted strips that your Levy showed us work in this world.” Vraylinish’s mouth quirked at a sour angle as her eyebrows plunged toward her nose bridge.

“Jewels replaced the barter system so I guess it can’t be helped that it’s confusing, Vraylinish. Not everyone had the right things to exchange with each other so money got invented to make sure everyone could get things they really needed or wanted no matter their specific skills.” Makarov explained.

Loke popped into the space beside them. “What Master Makarov is trying to explain is that money systems replaced bartering for goods to make trades hassle free. Barter was normal during your lifetime, but it made life more difficult for some people. Money systems or finance as it is also called, improved life for everyone because they don’t have to do multiple trades to get the things they actually need.”

Vraylinish nodded as her expression shifted to thoughtful. “Some times when we killed a demon, we would be given important things like well napped arrows and knives, or even food. It was the people’s way of thanking us.”

“You’re starting to get the idea. However, jewels ended the problem of unfair swaps happening because everyone agrees on what an item’s value is before it gets to a store, Vraylinish-sama. All forms of work, or the making of items have set rates of value attached based upon common agreements that are centuries old. Jewels have set values that rarely change, so everyone gets paid their proper jewel value for all forms of work they do. A set price, or value for every type of work has been established so that everyone can do what they are talented at without having to worry about starving, or not having shelter so long as they are working. The more dangerous the work involved, the more value that work is given. With Magic Guilds, the bulk of the work is valued much higher than safer work like making clothing, or taking care of crops to feed everyone else. Magic is not something that everyone can do, so the value of mage work remains much higher than hands on work like weaving baskets.”

“Hm, so in a way, these jewels express the different types of a good stone napper’s work as an example. A blade would be the same value as one type of jewel while an arrowhead would have the same value, or importance as a different looking jewel in this comparison.”

Loke nodded with a grin at Vraylinish's comment.

“Think I’m beginning to understand this new way a little bit. Given time, we will all learn I suppose. Yet, Makarov, your talk about this guild place does not explain how we are to give value to the things you have given us. These strange clothes and the food have been given, but we have not done anything to give them proper value in return if I am learning how this money trade works.”

“Thank you for your explanation, Loke. And, Vraylinish, your people have done all you can to save Lucy’s life. As I understand everything, you and your warriors blocked a very powerful demon from escaping it’s prison and attacking this nation. So in this case, your people have already earned the food, clothing, and other items you’ve been given since you arrived. My brats will come around and stop being afraid of your people once Lucy and the boys wake up. Right now their fears are in control of their emotions because they don’t understand your magic any more than your people understand how money works.”

“Vraylinish-sama, I hate to cut this lesson short, but several of your warriors are giving shifty looks to their weapons piled up as you ordered.” Loke interrupted.

“Bane Warriors are not used to being trapped inside these man made caves you call buildings. I need to find a way to get them outdoors where they can move around very soon or risk losing control over them. None of us sit for long. To remain in the company of those who we feel resentment from is a problem. False kindness is never safe to our kind.”

Loke placed a hand on Makarov’s shoulder to draw his full attention. “She’s telling the truth, Master. Fey children grew up getting brutalized by all the pure blood races. The Fairies would rip of their wings to cripple them if they were allowed to live at all. If they escaped the Fairies’ slavery, humans and other races would go out of their way to kill them on sight. The Twenty Elites are all Hybrids who are hard wired to be paranoid. We need to find something for them to do that will help them calm down. Learning to read and write isn’t working because it lacks physical action to ease their adrenaline from hearing angry voices up here.”

“Levy and the others who are willing to help have all said you don’t have any knowledge of our magic. Perhaps we can exchange knowledge to ease your people’s fear of us. It allows us to be outdoors in the honor’s ring at least.”

Makarov lifted his hand to silence the woman. “What is an Honor’s Ring?”

“An Honor’s Ring is a place that traps magic inside of a large rock lined ring made to hold in all power that gets used during combats to regain one’s honor. The magic cannot escape the ring stones so it won’t cause damage outside of the ring.”

“Can such an honor ring be used to train magic also?” Makarov asked as excitement rose within his breast.

“Yes, of course. We all teach and learn from each other inside the honor ring. It is difficult to create trust unless both sides share something as proof that good will is the truth on both sides.” Vraylinish answered, looking troubled as she watched her people shuffle and fidget on the ground floor.

Levy looked up at them and motioned for them to come over. Although Levy was worried about Lucy, her curiosity made her the perfect spy and liaison for Makarov’s purposes. The Solid Script Mage was one of the most tolerant Fairy Tail members. Convincing her to help the feral mages who lacked any knowledge of the modern world was easy once Makarov explained his plans. Levy learned language quickly, and was already figuring out their simpler words. Medium sized magic balls were set upon various tables to translate everything between the ancient and modern tongues spoken on the ground floor. However, Makarov wanted several Fairy Tail mages fluent in the ancient language for times when translation lacrimas were not available.

Every report Levy turned in before going home at night gave greater insight into the Ancient's culture. Most of the culture was quite shocking to be certain, yet Makarov recognized that they had lived outdoors, using smelly hides as shelters, or finding caves during the winter. They only knew how to hunt wildlife for their food, and clothing. Their lack of any form of luxury during their lives explained plenty about their barbaric ways. Their lack of formal arrangements like marriage, or understanding basic morality by modern standards was already causing a lot of embarrassment for most of Fairy Tail's mages. Sexuality was on full display, which was both entertaining, and horrifying in turns.

Dropping onto the ground floor Makarov spoke again as they walked to the corner of the guild where her forty five members waited. “Wendy told me that she’s learning a number of interesting new ways to heal people from Braydon and his group.”

“It is part of their punishment. The teaching will continue so that one of yours will be well versed in saving lives to balance their lack of telling your grandson and the other male what they needed to do to help your Lucy. The three will never be the same again. Even if they agree to keep very separate inner personal territories, some days will blend their thoughts more than others. Some days will make them resonate as one being because of one being ill, or tired. It cannot be changed now that soul shards have been exchanged between the three. Please stand here, and I will return in a moment.”

Makarov nodded at Vraylinish as she headed toward her people. Hopping onto the bar, Makarov placed his empty mug down. Mirajane filled it from the large pitcher she had in her hands.

“Master, you know that we all think the Fairies are deranged because they used a magic necessary for them to breed as a way to save Lucy’s life. Don’t you?”

With a heavy sigh, Makarov yanked his jester's hat off his head and rubbed his balding skull. “The list of possible side effect that our members will deal with boggles my mind too, Mira. All we can do right now is pray that no major damage happened once my grandson and his new companions wake up. The one thing I do know is that Vraylinish’s healers were trying to save lives with their Soul Binding spell. Even without saying it outright, I believe Braydon and his group were panicking, so they used the one spell that has the highest success rate, no matter the consequences. I can't fault them for fearing a powerful demon getting unleashed on our world that can do the kind of damage they claim it could.”

“Until they harmonize their life forces, and decide their relationship roles, they can’t wake up according to Loke. What if Natsu and Laxus can’t agree to get along with each other so they stay trapped in that magical sleep until they all die?” Mira demanded.

“Mira, have some faith in those two. They’ll find a working balance between them even if they are both Dragon Slayers. Lucy’s soul recovery will also play a part in when they’ll all get out of the infirmary beds. Wendy is monitoring them. She’ll find a way to help them wake up in time. Be patient, and have faith. Laxus and Natsu will find the best solution since they did this to save Lucy. She’ll keep them in line if all else fails.”

A smirk grew on Mirajane’s face as she nodded. “At least we'll have beautiful Blond haired and blue or brown eyed babies in the guild. Maybe even pink haired and brown or black eyed babies too.” Mira squealed before heading toward the stairs to refill glasses.

Chaffing as the young woman ascended the stairs, Makarov stared at his drink. Despite how confident he sounded, Makarov was not so sure the trio would be fine after Lucy stabilized because of the nature of the spell used, and recorded Dragon Slayer instincts. Centuries of ever expanding research about territorial instincts dominated Dragon Slayer lore. Spouses were always their Slayers most prized treasure, and were zealously guarded. If the Fairies’ Soul Binding spell triggered instincts that made Lucy into both their spouse, stopping Natsu and Laxus from killing each other to stake their territorial claim could prove impossible.

The Fairies believed that Laxus and Natsu would be unable to seriously hurt each other because of the spell’s nature. Yet Makarov was anything but convinced that the ancients understood how dangerous Dragon Slayer instincts became when active. Laxus might only have an embedded lacrima, but he had been overcome by several Alpha draconic instincts over the years. Time helped Makarov recognize the attempt to take over the Guild as one such instance where Laxus lost control over the Alpha instincts gained from his lacrima. Worst of all was how Natsu lived on similar instincts as his constant need to fight with stronger guild members demonstrated.

Lucy was trapped between the two Dragon Slayers who had the worst love hate relationship within their guild. Natsu respected Laxus’ strength, but was constantly challenging him to fights due to his instinctual need to get stronger, or take the Alpha position. Laxus, on the other hand, had arrogance issues, and was quick to anger. Natsu’s compulsiveness infuriated Laxus as no other Slayer ever could. Makarov had long suspected his grandson had an interest in Lucy, upon which he refused to act before her life was on the line. On the other hand, Natsu was always draping himself on Lucy and calling her his best friend, but acting out borderline boyfriend behaviors. As things stood, Natsu practically lived with Lucy no matter how loud or violent her protests for personal space got.

Dragon Slayers were anything but normal people. Yet to make things even more dicey, the Fairies who sought to heal Lucy through the unconventional spell added an all new nightmare to the mix. The group linked the souls of Natsu, and Laxus to Lucy’s said that they believed Natsu had traces of awakened Fairy blood. With Lucy trapped between the two Dragon Slayers, both with extremely territorial personalities, Makarov dreaded facing the insanity when the three did rouse from their catatonic state.

Although many humans dreamed about finding their soul mate, this spell took things much too far. In fact, as far as Makarov was concerned, it took away all the joy and adventure of finding and being with your perfect life partner. Fairies lacked any sense of adventure or human morality, so did not understand how Soul Binding magic could be viewed as cruel. The healers had chipped off pieces of three individual souls and literally glued the pieces into the other souls through a magical swapping process.

One side effect described with indifferent voices would make Laxus, Lucy, and Natsu miserable once they were aware that their thoughts and feelings were no longer private. All their painful past experiences would be the property of the others involved no matter what they wanted. Soul Binding destroyed any chance of secrets unless all had iron wills to remain separate people. From Vraylinish’s comments about bad days, remaining autonomous seemed unlikely. The spell even lead to erosion of individuality over time. To lose one’s individuality, and be forced to cope with eroding personalities would make anyone who enjoyed their independence resent Soul Binding.

Then again, the Ancients meddling was all for the purpose of moving the chains Lucy endured to other people. Makarov doubted that these hard hearted beings of diverse races actually gave a damn about the individuals involved when confronted with Lucy's death unleashing a very powerful monster on Earthland. Makarov shuddered as he stared at the winged ones who acted quite haughty and extreme by comparison to other races, including the Centaurs. Fairies were the stuff of dying legends, and hybrids were all but unheard of before they were thrust into everyone’s faces. They were odd looking strangers, and nobody from the guild knew how to react.

With the added strain of three members being in magic induced comas caused by a spell that had never been heard of before, Makarov could only hope the Fiore King would make arrangements to safeguard Fairy Tail and the Ancients so nobody would be harmed further.

Vraylinish and Loke caught his attention. With a rapid blinking motion, Makarov focused on the pair. Loke spoke, “RoMordian and the other Centaurs are sensing over thirty incoming magical powers that don’t match anyone in the guild who left on missions. Centaur sensitivity at feeling magic ability from a distance is the best in the world, so I’m thinking King Fiore and his personal body guards have probably arrived.”

“One would hope it is your true leader, but they also noticed the powers coming from two different directions. Some may be enemies of your King.” Vraylinish added as her head remained cocked to the side to monitor her warriors. The twenty Bane Elites had begun to form a defensive ring around the sixteen Star Singers. The Fairies leapt in the air and began to hover in place.

Mirajane leaned over the upstairs banister rail and called down, “Master, what’s going on with them now?”

More heads looked over the railing as Loke stepped back to be seen and explained. “The Centaurs have noticed around thirty very strong magical signatures heading this way. Since they have memorized the guild’s magical signatures, they already know these signatures are strangers. Seems the thirty are coming from two different directions so they’re taking up defensive positions to protect the Star Singers if these aren’t friendly visitors.”

“Are you serious?” Wakaba demanded as he hung over the rail.

“Centaurs were always the most sensitive of all magical creatures to magical vessels and abilities. They can feel the vibrations from amazing distances, and even smell differences in all types of magic when they get close enough.” Loke answered.

Makarov heaved himself onto his feet and began snapping orders. “It’s King Fiore’s entourage, so everyone help get this guild cleaned up. We need to make a good impression when the Royal Family arrives.”

All the Guild cheered and began racing to pick up any trash, and tidy up their home.

~~oo0oo~~


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail cannons. I own the lunatics I throw at the cannons to cause mayhem and bedlam for everyone’s entertainment ***Ambush is the name I picked to distinguish Fey groups from human tribes.*** I finished revising this chapter also today. 
> 
> 2 different POV’s divided by ==oo0oo== symbol. Italics are translation sphere dialog in the first section. Italics are thoughts in the second POV section.

Metalicana looked down at his adopted son who was sulking between his forelegs. Gajeel was leveling his rankest stink eye at Sertatsie and Winhermeare. Among the highest ranked Bane Warriors to have left time suspension, Winhermeare was the last Fey Metalicana expected to act as Sertatsie’s care giver for the day. However, Winhermeare arrived with a large platter heaped high with raw meat cut into small chunks. The woman had completed her task of hand feeding the chopped meat to Sertatsie, who swallowed without chewing.

A few minutes after Winhermeare set the large platter on the ground, Gajeel stood up, and without additional warning, exploded. “So let me see if I got everything I’ve heard so far straight? Your group thinks Bunny Girl’s super powerful, is that right?”

Sertatsie nodded, her thought orb shimmering with the full spectrum of colors as Gajeel’s hand lifted to ward off any commentary. “I got the impression that your group also thinks Bunny Girl’s going to have so much more power after you guys remove those chains, she’ll die if you didn’t curse two Dragon Slayers to be stuck to her for the rest of their lives. So your little fucking Fairy pals cursed two Slayers without even explaining anything because they think they have the right to tell others how to live. Did I leave anything out?”

Sertatsie’s telepathic orb flashed. The hues and the voice blared her miffed state. “Neither Braydon, nor his bonded mates knew about Fairy magic being lost to antiquity when your Lightning Slayer asked how he could save the girl’s life. They recognized a harmonious life force that could mesh with hers, so did what they felt would save the girl’s life. The second male also demanded that he be allowed to save her life. We did not know both were Dragon Slayers, or that both contained true dragon magic gained by different sources of magic. It was more important to block the Abyss Lord’s escape than waste time learning both male's magic types or explaining all the possibilities to be experienced at that moment. Stopping the Abyss Void from corrupting the Astral Star Chains took priority even if the pair bound to the Singer are less than ideal in hind sight.”

Gajeel growled deep in his chest before unleashing more vitriol. “How the fuck could anyone get the boneheaded idea that cursing anyone, much less two Dragon Slayers, was the best way to save Bunny Girl’s life? None of you know anything about us so you should’a asked questions before pulling such a stupid stunt!”

The Fey woman, Winhermeare held a translation lacrima in her lap as she let Gajeel’s furious words get translated. She spoke in her guttural, hissing language which the lacrima translated in neutral tones. _“When was there enough time to ask anything? The Star Singer’s soul was breaking apart. Final death for the Singer was_ _immenent_ _. To waste time learning intricacies was impossible. No matter how much you rant, the Singer is alive because of the Fairies using Soul Binding magic. The Abyss Lord is still tied down because they made a snap decision to accept two compatible, and equally strong life force bearing men’s offers.”_

Metalicana watched his fledgling’s anger drive the man into a new fit of pacing. Had things played out differently, it might have been Gajeel who was robbed of a piece of his soul over wanting to help the Celestial Spirit Mage. Gajeel was fortunate to have escaped getting fused to the Star Singer’s soul in Metalicana’s opinion. Knowing Gajeel’s concern was directly related to how territorial all Slayers became once they found their chosen mate, Metalicana agreed that his fledgling had reason to be incensed about the cavalier treatment of fellow Slayers. As long as the two Slayers were unable to speak for themselves, perhaps Gajeel felt he had to humiliate the Ancients in their places.

Igneel was sure to explode when he arrived. Learning about the dangerous magical situation foisted upon his own fledgling would be grounds for all out slaughter. Metalicana was dreading Igneel’s unfettered wrath once he knew all that had transpired. Of all the Elemental Dragon Kings and Queens, Igneel’s temper was the most volatile when roused. Dealing with Igneel was going to be a pain.

“Calm down, Fledgling. Fury dulls your wits and blocks the means to find working solutions, and you well know it. Winhermeare and her kind went into Time Suspension long before humans were actually taught Dragon magic by us. They are ignorant, and that is a fact. Dragon Masters are not like Slayers so they can’t be compared to you or the others. Our focus should be kept where it belongs right now. Undoing this mess before they wake up must be our priority.” Metalicana reminded the furious man.

“The Fairies said the spell can’t be undone, Dad! If Laxus and Natsu do wake up, their dragon instincts will take over and make them kill each other. Bunny Girl’s caught in the middle of their fight no matter what she wants, and that’s going to shred her sanity, and probably kill her when they butcher each other. She can’t deal with this kind of bullshit! She’s the biggest hearted human I’ve ever met. Those bastards’ fight is gonna hurt her badly no matter who survives! Bunny Girl’s going to blame herself and it’s all these ancient idiots’ fault!”

The translation lacrima pulsed in Winhermeare’s hand while she spoke in her own tongue. The crystal resonated, words rolling out of the magical sphere. _“Soul Binding will prevent them from killing each other. In fact, it will keep them unmoving until they make peace with each other and accept new roles. Such has always been the case with_ _soul_ _magic. Soul Bond makes each aware of every truth that others hide. As the smaller man seems to have Fey birthright, the new soul shards_ _he has gotten_ _will force order upon his chaotic mind.”_

Gajeel stalked closer to the Bane Warrior woman. His fury turned his voice into a borderline roar. “You people flat refuse to listen to anyone who knows what it means to be a Dragon Slayer which is the worst fucking kind of arrogance! Your so damned sure that your screwed up spell is going to force two Dragon Slayers to lose their individual personalities and instincts that they won’t realize they aren’t the same person. Well guess what, bitch, you’re completely off your fucking rocker wrong! The minute either one wakes up, you’ll find out exactly how wrong you can get if I know those two.”

Sertatsie hummed softly as she tried to calm the pair of combatants before either struck a physical blow. “Young one, you have the right to feel anger over what seems like a great wrong done to your companions. Nevertheless it is possible that the Fairy Soul Bond will hinder their deadlier instincts toward each other. The common practice to stabilize three is for Soul Shards to be exchanged equally between all three. It is real knowledge that sways Winhermeare’s judgment in this case.”

“Well excuse me for only being a real Dragon Slayer, with dragon instincts and ways that I learned from Metalicana. Guess I’m not good enough if I don’t appreciate their high and mightier than the rest of us variety of shit stinking attitude.” Gajeel snarled with his fists and teeth clenched hard. “As a Dragon Slayer who knows what it means, all I can say is that fighters like us don’t lose ourselves to anything but actual death, Old One. Sparky and Ash Breath will fight to keep their independent personalities. Considering nobody warned any of them about the possible loss of identity before they got used, they’ll fight even harder to beat this raw deal! If this spell won’t let them wake up because they’re fighting to be themselves, all three of them are already dead.”

Metalicana snorted a stream of smoke through his nose, but refrained from speaking. To Gajeel’s mind, both his fellow Dragon Slayers, and the Spirit Mage, were exactly as he said. All of them were dead which was sending Gajeel into loss triggered rage. The only thing that remained was to see which route their deaths took in Gajeel’s mind. One route meant a lot of physical destruction, blind fury, and agony before someone’s last breath was drawn. The other was nothing short of an indignant wasting away of comatose bodies.

In Metalicana’s opinion, the former was more likely to happen. Dragon magic changed humans on very deep and subtle levels that the Fairies had not accounted for when they used two Slayers in their scheme. Because of constant exposure to the dragon’s life force as they learned dragon magic, their adopted humans developed dragon like senses, power, and instincts. Metalicana doubted Fairy magic could fully negate a Slayer’s deepest ingrained draconic instincts. Although, with one being artificially made, it was possible that the Lightning Slayer was more susceptible to Fairy magic than Igneel’s fledgling.

Winhermeare’s lacrima began translating her soft, growled words. _“If they have such strong instincts from their Dragon magic, then it may be easier for them to align for the Singer’s benefit. Instincts determine roles in many creatures, and the same is true with Soul Binding. Therefore, the female Star Singer’s position will decide which roles both males will take. She will be the Alpha female so will control their foolish male aggression. I believe her strong enough to manage both males. She has great inner strength, or would not have survived feeding so many Astral Chains as long as she has.”_

Watching Gajeel stomp over the same ground and return was dull, but Metalicana smelled his fledgling’s unabating fury quite sharply. Somewhat perplexed by the blatant change in Gajeel’s personality since he had last seen his fledgling, Metalicana tried to maintain the dregs of his strained patience. To learn what had caused Gajeel’s change in personality required clear thinking.

So far, the words his Fledgling had spewed after helping get his comrades put in the infirmary pointed to Gajeel having a strong attachment to the girl. Metalicana mulled over the best way to breach the topic without sending his irate fledgling into a deadly fight with the Bane Warrior. If he was mourning the girl’s death prematurely, things would only deteriorate beyond salvage whenever she did die.

Sertatsie lowered her head next to Winhermeare who also reeked of anger, and impatience as a means to prevent the Fey woman from attacking Gajeel. Narrowing his eyes, Metalicana watched the Bane Warrior even closer than Gajeel since she was the more dangerous smelling. Little about her scent reminded him of anything remotely human. If anything, the Fey smelled alarmingly similar to a demon. Was Winhermeare an actual Spawn, or a Fey Demon Bane?

Metalicana considered Winhermeare’s vivid skin, now free of filth after Fairy Tail’s population managed to get her scrubbed clean. Her skin was not even a passable human color. Winhermeare’s dull carmine flesh resembled tough hide, identical to that of a hairless demon’s pelt. The points in favor of a Bane was that Winhermeare had strange hair for a Spawn. It was too curly and supple in the tones of chestnut and amber. Spawns had livid colored hair through pitch black with the stiffness and texture of poorly spun wire. Her eyes were a garish pink, but lacked the silvery pupil slits of a Spawn.

Winhermeare could still pass for a Spawn, but was most likely a Fey Demon Bane Metalicana concluded. Few Feys survived eating such poisonous prey, but those few survivors were recalled in Dragon Lore as legendary fighters. According to the oldest lore Metalicana knew, Feys started eating real Demons to survive during the Purging Times. Only the hybrids who settled into the most inhospitable land zones where food was scarce were ever left alone by the other races. The downside of their exile had been the proximity of demon gates which constantly belched out new enemies. Any hybrid child not confined on Tenrou continent as a Fairy slave, was relentlessly hunted down and butchered by the pedigree races during that stone age era.

Only the tiny Satyrs, and Centaur races had refused to get involved with the meaningless slaughter of Fey children. Dragons had treated Fey ambushes the same as they did Human tribes during that period. If a dragon was hungry enough, they would eat all the members of a weaker ambush, or tribe, but considered such food akin to appetizers instead of meals because it took so much effort to kill and eat enough of them.

Gajeel’s snarling voice grabbed Metalicana's attention. “. . . insanely territorial when it comes to our spouse. We’re no different than our dragons when we settle down with our lifelong partner and start a family. We even get the same empathic links as any normal dragon pair. You’re Sacred Saint admitted that those damned Fairies used a spell that they created for their own breeding purposes! So why can’t any of you admit your Fairies really fucked up by using a mating spell to tie two Dragon Slayers to the same woman?”

Winhermeare’s translated answer echoed outward after several moments. _“Mistake it may be to your thinking, yet none of us know the outcome even if the males are territorial by nature. Your people know nothing of the magic used to save the Star Singer, and we know little of Dragon Slayer people. The outcome may be completely different from anything either side expects because of the_ _ir_ _Star Singer.”_

Sertatsie’s eyes whirled with multiple colors as she dipped her head to meet Gajeel’s eyes. “Perhaps the three will surprise us all due to the one factor of this kind of Bonding magic which has always proven true. It is impossible for any of them to misunderstand each other now. Lies are no longer possible between them. When soul shards are exchanged, each life becomes dependent upon the other life involved. The shards may even bring these two males together for all we know.”

“We don’t do things that way, Old One. Even if they somehow manage to wake up and not kill each other, it’s against the law to have multiple spouses. Bunny Girl will be forced to pick one of them, and ignore the other which will make things unbearable for her. They’re all getting the shaft thanks to your little deluded pals’ bullshit!”

Metalicana shook his scaled head to loosen his bemused state. He had never envisioned Gajeel being so protective of a non mate material human, but his fledgling’s time with these humans had changed him. The way the Slayer continued to pace and the fury he could not contain spoke eloquently of his emotions. The little celestial mage was precious to Gajeel, but why if she was not coveted as his mate.

“How do you see your Bunny Girl, Fledgling?”

“Huh? Why’re you asking me that, Dad?” Gajeel whirled on his heels and glared up at him.

“Because, you won’t stop stomping around and roaring at this Demon Bane who had nothing to do with casting that infernal spell. It’s been two days so you’ve had enough time to make peace with this, but you flat refuse. Bunny Girl, as you call her, must be very important to you, so don't try to deny it.” Metalicana snapped.

“Guess you could say Bunny’s everyone’s sister. Wasn’t always that way for me . . . but, uhmm well, after Phantom Lord got disbanded . . . and how she forgives everyone for being an asshole, . . . You could say that people can’t help but get used to having her around.” Gajeel spluttered as his indignant scowl grew.

Siblings were very important to humans as Metalicana knew very well. Gajeel’s answer was not unexpected, yet Metalicana wanted his fledgling to recognize his unsettled temper’s true cause. To hear his fledgling spitting out words with such a scowl was proof that Gajeel still thought emotions like caring for others was a weakness.

“So you finally found yourself a human family, and your closest sibling is in danger. Your anger will take time to burn out I suppose.” Metalicana answered as amusement began to stir in the back of his mind. Fledgling got more interesting every day it seemed.

Sertatsie wheezed at his flippant tone. The Ancient Queen realized what he was up to Metalicana knew. Her rapidly changing eye color was proof that she was thinking about whether or not his way of dealing with his fledgling was acceptable.

“Shut it, Dad! There’s nothing wrong with my being pissed off. Mass destruction’s gonna happen if they wake up! Bunny Girl’s not gonna be able to stop those two morons for long, even if she’s damned scary when pissed off enough.”

Winhermeare’s peals of laughter was echoed by Sertatsie and finally by Metalicana. Recovering first, Metalicana gave Gajeel a toothy grin and asked, “How is it you can doubt that your adopted sibling can keep two Slayers in line after saying you consider her damned scary when angry?” 

“Erm, you just don’t get it, Dad. Bunny Girl’s too soft hearted to stay mad for long, and she’ll blame herself for their fighting. Trust me when I say this really could destroy Bunny Girl.” With those words, Gajeel swiveled on his heels and stomped toward his guild’s door.

==oo0oo==

The last thing Laxus recalled was how the smelly weirdos planted their hands on his chest and Blondie’s before he felt like he was being electrocuted, torn apart, and boiled at the same time. As if those sensations were not bad enough, they were followed by intense dizziness, and the sensation of being tugged toward Blondie. Laxus thought he heard the one in the middle telling him to share his energy with Blondie if he really wanted to save her. Nothing but a strange sense of almost being connected to Blondie had registered after that.

Laxus figured he must have passed out. Yet the constant pained cries that sounded suspiciously like Blondie’s voice kept Laxus seeking a way to get closer to her, if only to silence the heart wrenching sobs. So Laxus had tried stumbling around in this utter darkness to follow the constant keening that reached his ears.

Focusing on walking seemed to be getting Laxus nowhere. How was he supposed to save Blondie if he could not reach her? The re-occurring thought made Laxus furious with himself. It was too dark for Laxus to think that he was having some lucid dream any longer. It made sense that trying to walk as Laxus would in a dream or normal waking life was worth a shot, but it also failed to get him anywhere.

Deciding to sit down and contemplate less obvious ways to get around, Laxus realized that nothing was happening. For a while Laxus had been bothered by how strange this place was, and now the answer was sinking in. Somehow Laxus had ignored his instincts screaming at him that gravity was missing. Bending over with his hands sweeping in the vicinity of his feet to find the floor, Laxus discovered nothing at all. An irritated snort exploded from him over the recognition that lacking gravity and ground made trying to wander around the normal way impossible.

The gears began spinning as Laxus pieced together what he knew about this weird place. Everything was pitch black, and he was somehow floating in the air for a lack of a better way to describe his dilemma. Since Laxus could not walk, but felt an irresistible tug with each wail that reached his ears, was it possible to use his magic instead? Focusing on hands which Laxus could not see, he shot his magic through palms and fingertips. Sparks began to crisscross Laxus’ palms and dance at his command. For the first time since Laxus became aware of being in this pitch black place, he could see something, although it was only his own disembodied looking hands.

Laxus felt his lips slide into a grin as palpable relief flooded his senses. Now to see if he could use his lightning form to get to wherever Blondie was located. With the next cry that reached Laxus’ ears, he shifted his body to the lightning form. The sound still tugged at Laxus, so he let it dictate his direction. Without warning Laxus found himself slamming into something very solid and hard.

Shifting back to normal, Laxus touched a smooth wall that was both warm and solid feeling. Much to Laxus surprise, whatever it was that had stopped him began to cave forward beneath his hand's pressure. When he increased the pressure of his fingers with slow and steady pressure, the barrier gave ground. Considering that so long as he made no drastic moves, the barrier continued to give way, Laxus forced his impatience down. It was hard because it hurt hearing Lucy’s much louder crying. For whatever reason, Laxus was certain that he had gotten closer to his goal if only because the familiar sounding voice releasing those cries was so much louder. Yet letting his irritation overcome his wits would get Laxus nowhere fast if he screwed up bending the barrier blocking him from Blondie.

Treating this barrier like any delicately triggered magic trap Freed created, Laxus knew caution was the best way to proceed. Firm, slow, and steady pressure that he kept pace through counting his heartbeats increased his progress. First his fingers and hands plunged through the warm wall of resistance. Laxus froze for several seconds as he wiggled his fingers, twisted his wrists around, and tried to identify anything on the other side.

As nothing attacked him, Laxus began moving forward once more. One of Laxus feet breached the barrier next. Yet as Laxus continued to move forward, a jarring sensation such as he identified with walking on solid ground ran up his leg. Excitement skated up Laxus spine as he redoubled his efforts. Soon enough his head and shoulders were breaking through the malleable shield.

The moment Laxus opened his eyes, a gasp escaped his throat. Scenery reminiscent of a formal garden with a large fountain in the center greeted Laxus eyes. Stepping fully through the last of the barrier, Laxus watched as it bounced back into its original shape. Unsure of where to find Blondie, Laxus paused to listen for her next shriek of anguish.

When Blondie’s next wracking sob came, four things immediately snagged Laxus attention. First thing; the barrier shrank inward by a good foot all around as the ground shuddered. Second thing; what could only be a fountain in the middle of the garden spluttered as if a partial clog was getting lodged in the mechanism. Third thing; the wails seemed to be coming from the fountain. Fourth thing; the area’s light dropped noticeably as if the sun were going down in the evening sky.

All of Laxus instincts shivered as a very bad feeling coursed through his body to wedge in his gut. Worry took hold of Laxus body, prompting him to move fast toward the fountain area. Within moments he saw the Celestial Spirit Mage was halfway buried by what he had thought was a fountain, being pulled into some kind of silvery pool while struggling to keep her head above the substance Laxus had mistaken for water. The chains they had been unable to touch when fighting the void spell were very much in view as Laxus skidded to a halt beside the pinned down mage. Dark veins were writhing across the woman’s skin, tainting her face, shoulders, and even what Laxus could see of her stomach. To top it off, what looked like part of a dead corpse holding a large jar was slowly sinking into Blondie’s upper back, merging into her delightfully nude body.

Part of Laxus mind registered her lack of clothing and sought to control his eyes longing to ogle the woman. ' _Once I get her out of this mess, I'm not backing down any longer. I'll prove I'm better for her than Flame Brain. Once she realizes that, she'll be in my bed instead of letting that idiot paw her all the fucking time._ _S_ _nap out of it! S_ _aving Blondie’s life_ _takes_ _precedence over getting an eye full of above average feminine beauty._ _'_ Laxus mentally slammed the door on his more perverted side before it could slow him down.

The actual fountain effect was due to the silvery energy exploding from the jar Laxus realized while taking in the scene before him. It was not an actual fountain that had grabbed his attention, but a raw wellspring of power getting sucked into different directions and taking everything within it’s path away through the damned chains attached to Blondie's soul with every pulse of life it was ripping out of Lucy.

“What the fuck’s happening to you, Blondie?” Laxus growled at the trapped woman in an attempt to cover how shaken he felt as the situation became clear.

Somehow he was faced with Lucy Heartfilia's soul, and that probably meant his soul was now in Blondie's body. Not the most reassuring thought Laxus had ever had when he considered it could mean any wrong moves could kill them both. Dropping onto his haunches, Laxus wrapped one of his muscular arms under Lucy's scarce upheld upper body. With a glare at the blue haired corpse, Laxus pushed his other arm between Lucy’s shoulders and the fast sinking female body, hoping to pry the corpse off her back. As Laxus discovered he could not pry the corpse off his crush, he began doing what he could to get Lucy lifted higher. The chains were resistant to his upward heaving pull, but somehow Laxus managed to get Lucy into an upright position where he could get a look at her face.

“Come on, Blondie, snap out of it. Look at me damn it!”

“Go away, Laxus. I betrayed and killed Aquarius. I’m a horrible person. You shouldn’t bother with someone like me,” slipped past her blood stained lips.

“Like I’m going to abandon you over shit you had no control over. I heard about how you were told to break your key, Blondie. Aquarius demanded that you do what you did. The only one who got betrayed was you, not that damned spirit of yours!” Laxus barked in her ear as he held her against his chest.

Another heart wrenching wail escaped Lucy’s lips as the spirit sank deeper into her back. Another drop in area size and light shook the area. Even less ground was left within the barrier. Laxus found his eyes widening as he got an unwelcome idea about what was happening to the young woman. Was this what happened within a person’s depths when they were dying physically? The thought almost locked down Laxus ability to think as panic threatened.

Recalling the hazy memory of being told to give Blondie energy when he asked how he could save her, Laxus took a deep breath. He focused on sending a small spark of his magic into the girl as a test to ensure he did not hurt her. Almost immediately the energy was inhaled, and Laxus found himself getting drained. With every pulse of energy wrenched from Laxus magic reserves, the area began to shudder and buckle, brightening and expanding. Painful as it was, Laxus did not allow his instincts to break free. Each pulse was returning color and vibrancy to Blondie’s skin. The area was expanding into a lush and beautiful setting with sunlight gaining in strength to showcase the garden’s flowers.

The biggest shock to Laxus was when the barrier suddenly expanded, and a very confused and annoyed looking Natsu appeared out of nowhere. The pink haired idiot immediately began shouting. “Luce! Where are you? I’m here to save you, so answer me!”

Before Laxus could open his mouth, he suddenly found that his mind was swarming with images, emotions, and thoughts that were not his own. Lucy’s fists pushed against Laxus chest which gave him a way to focus on his surroundings again. Hiccuping sniffles continued to slap at his heart as the woman tried to catch her strangled breath.

“W,w,w,wh,why a, a,a.are you h,h,h,e,here a,a,a,and na,na,naked, Laxus?” Lucy stuttered as her head yanked to the side to avoid looking at him.

“No idea why I’m naked, but so are you, and Flame Brain. As to why I’m here, I volunteered to save you, so I’m guessing that your Squinty eyed idiot of a partner is here for the same reason.”

As if his words had given Natsu a way to lock onto Blondie’s location, Natsu dropped beside them. “Luce? Are you okay?” With a darkening glare, Natsu snarled at Laxus. “What do you think you’re fucking doing, groping Luce like that?”

Resisting the urge to release the shaking blond in his arms to beat the moron into oblivion, Laxus snapped back, “I’m not groping Blondie, Firebrand! I have to hang onto her in order to give her my energy to keep her alive! Why don’t you stop jumping to conclusions and get the fucking corpse off her back before it kills her?!”

Natsu nodded, leapt to his feet, and suddenly made a weird choking noise. Laxus swiveled his head and glanced at a horrified looking Natsu. “I know it’s disturbing, but we gotta save Blondie so you gotta pull that off her back!”

“How’d Aquarius get here? Why’s she sinking into Luce like this?” Natsu muttered in barely audible tones.

“We don’t have time for questions. We gotta get them separated, Flame Brain. Blondie’s in serious danger of dying. If we can get Blondie stable, I’ll tell you what I figured out about what’s happening. We have to work fast, and get Blondie stable or she’s going to die. If you got caught in that pitch black nothingness like I did, then you should realize it exists because Blondie’s dying.”

“But, everything turned into this place all of a sudden.” Natsu protested.

“I’m giving Blondie enough of my life energy to keep her alive. Considering how much it’s drawing off of me, it allowed her to stabilize enough to return part of her vitality and energy which is what this garden represents, Dumb Ass! What do you think those healers were talking about us doing when they used that weird feeling spell to link us to her? To save her, we have to work together to undo the damage, and give her enough energy to survive this attack that’s killing her.”

Comprehension sparked in the pink haired man’s eyes. After another shudder of distaste, Natsu circled behind Lucy, grabbed the Celestial Spirit’s arm, and began tugging the spirit in the opposite direction. “You know, I could hold onto her and you could try to get Aquarius free. You’re taller than me.”

“If I could, I would switch places with you to try and rip that corpse off her back. The problem is that you’d probably fry Blondie instead of give her a manageable level energy boost. Plus the rate I’m being drained is frightening.”

“I’m so sorry, Laxus, Natsu. You don’t have to do this for me. Just let me go.”

“Forget it, Luce! ‘You’re my best friend and I won’t abandon you!” Natsu snarled.

Laxus sighed. The woman deserved to know what was happening to her. “We got some visitors right after Gajeel used that spell to knock you out so we could buy enough time to get you healed. The strangers admitted to tampering with some kind of demon trapping seals that your damned Lion spirit helped create several thousand years ago, Blondie. The original seals that keep the damned demon trapped are destabilizing because of the tampering they did to turn certain human bloodlines into automatic repair lacrimas of a sort. The chains stuck to you right now are from the tampering that was done to the seals. Your being sucked dry of your magic and life force at an insane rate to keep that fucking demon locked away. The tampering that the newcomers did to make the prison stronger is putting your life at risk. The fact that Loke knows, but doesn’t trust the Fairies in that party is also worrisome. But right now, I do know that if you die, some really bad ass demon that destroyed all but a small chink of a continent will be free to destroy Fiore at an insane pace if we can’t save you.”

Blond hair flowed across Laxus face as Blondie whipped her head around and looked into his eyes for the first time. Dull brown eyes met his as Lucy blinked with her mouth hanging ajar. “No way! Are you messing with me?”

Laxus felt his brows plunge as his temper sparked over the obvious doubt shining upon Lucy’s face. “How the fuck could I come up with such a ridiculous story on my own, Blondie? You’re from the Orion bloodline according to those damned Fairies. They claimed to have come out of a Time Suspension spell to stop the demon they call Abyss Lord from getting free. You’re the key to releasing the damned demon but nobody knew it until now. The reason for all the Dark Guild attacks on you is because of those bastards making your ancestors into the power source that feeds the prison and repairs it.”

“Why would anyone do something so horrible?” Blondie whispered as fresh tears began to fall.

Laxus swallowed hard, tugged the woman’s head against his chest and responded. “You’re guess is as good as mine, Blondie. But they already verified that you’re illness is because of what they did, and Loke said they were telling the truth.”

A muffled sob from the Celestial mage had Laxus and Natsu’s eyes meeting. If Natsu’s angry expression was proof of being a fraction as enraged as Laxus felt, his own features probably looked downright terrifying, Laxus thought as he tried to comfort Lucy and keep her life force stable.

~~oo0oo~~


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail cannons. I own the lunatics I throw at the cannons to cause mayhem and bedlam for everyone’s entertainment. So I returned things that had to be removed from the Ffnet draft to conform to their rules and regs in this chapter. Yes, Laxus will be showing increasing Perverted thoughts in this draft.

CHAPTER 9

Laxus swallowed hard, and pulled the magically exhausted woman’s head against his chest. “Your guess is as good as mine, Blondie. But they already verified that your illness is because of what they did, and Loke said they were telling the truth.”

Muffled bawling followed his revelation. Unsure how to respond to such copious tears, Laxus caught Natsu’s eyes over Blondie’s head. If Natsu’s furious expression was any indication of his feelings, Laxus figured his own features must look downright terrifying considering his own scarce controlled rage.

Unlike the pink haired man standing somewhat behind the Celestial Mage, Laxus understood plenty about this sickening trap that threatened to snuff out Lucy’s existence. Taking a deep breath, Laxus forced his magic to stay inert so he would not do accidental damage as she absorbed his much needed power. Excruciating discomfort shivered through Laxus chest when the petite woman collapsed fully against him, tears cascading down his bare chest like rain down a window pane.

“Calm down, Luce. I’ll get you out of this mess, same as always. You know I’ll make sure you’re safe.” Natsu said with a look of fierce determination settling onto his features as he shifted his stance in preparation to drag Aquarius’ carcass out of Lucy’s back.

Blondie sniffed and gulped several times to steady her breathing before trying to twist around inside Laxus hold to look at the Guild’s number one dimwit. However, instead of saying anything rational, Blondie cut loose with an ear splitting scream, face whipping back into Laxus' chest so fast that he wondered if her neck would break.

“Natsu, you pervert! Where the hell are your clothes? It’s bad enough Gray strips all the time, but I expect better from you! How dare you copy Gray?” Her muffled rant was all too clear for all that her shrill pitched voice was vibrating against Laxus chest.

Laxus repressed a groan. It was difficult to fathom why Blondie was going off on the same exact tirade they had already covered. After warning her that they were all nude, Laxus thought the subject was closed. However, it seemed as if Blondie had other plans. Perhaps she was using such a fixation as a coping mechanism of sorts. If so, Laxus could only assume that the oh so innocent acting woman had well hidden perversions of her own. At least it would explain her risque clothing choices.

“I’m not copying that stupid stripper! You’re just as naked as me and Laxus, Luce! Damn, you’re such a weirdo at times!” Natsu snarled while jerking on Aquarius’ arm hard enough to almost yank her out of his firm hold.

‘ _Why does the hottest woman in the whole fucking guild have to be such a damned prude at a time like this? It totally screws up her sex appeal when she flakes out about her body. Why the hell am I even entertaining this line of thinking right now? Focus on the real issue here. Blondie’s running out of time and I’ve got to find a way to put a stop to this damned bloodline curse before she dies.’_

The next thing Laxus knew, the Celestial Spirit Mage did an about face and turned demonic. If not for how tight he was holding onto her because of Natsu’s struggles to yank some Spirit out of her soul, Laxus was sure the woman would have used her vicious signature kick on them both. It was both a torment and delight to feel the tiny woman squirming against his body, but Laxus had to curb his very masculine response. The tragedy in having the sexiest woman in Fiore wiggling within his lap was realizing that they were souls. It was far more tragic in Laxus' opinion that they were not in physical bodies per se. He really wondered if the silky skin sliding against his own was as soft as her soul's skin felt.

In a better situation, if Natsu could keep his mouth shut, Laxus knew he would even enjoy showing the guild's hot head a good time. After all, Natsu had the ideal body for Laxus own tastes. Too bad the pink haired menace couldn't shut up long enough to let Laxus enjoy the view. Well there was also the headache of having to curb his voracious libido, but that was still doable thanks to Natsu's mouth. All that Laxus required to stay flaccid was Natsu reminding him of how obnoxious the teenaged hot head was. If anything, Natsu's whining was more effective at curbing Laxus lust than the obvious dangers of their situation. It doused Laxus ardor despite the feel of silky soft skin, and firm, upjutting breasts planted against his torso.

As she could not break free, Blondie did her level best to cover her breasts and started screaming. “Don’t look at me you perverts! Where’re my clothes? You two better get dressed right now! This isn’t funny!”

Laxus recalled thinking he would gladly endure Blondie screaming even if his ears bled due to the agony she was suffering. Instead of trying to silence Lucy, Laxus winced as her high pitched voice assaulted his eardrums. It was about the only thing Laxus knew he could do for her until someone figured out how to break the curse killing her. Still, Laxus also knew that neither he nor Natsu had known they would appear to her in the nude. Leaving Lucy in the dark about how dangerous her situation was would probably increase her hysteria over their presence. If she lost it completely, things could only get more unpleasant. Granted Laxus was not absolutely certain where they were located, but figured he had a decent grasp of the probabilities. It also gave him an opportunity to tease the feisty woman. If he twisted his words right, perhaps the fire normally lighting up Lucy's eyes would return.

Ears ringing, Laxus barked to get Lucy’s attention, “Shut it, Blondie! We’re inside your mind so we can’t do a damned thing about being naked in your territory. We’re probably naked because some part of your own brain wants to see us like this. Furthermore, we didn’t know when we agreed to shore up your life force that this would happen. The Fairies cast some spell that is supposed to strengthen your life force by using our magic to save your life. So if being naked bugs you so much, figure out how to make clothes for us!”

“Don’t you dare blame this on me, Jerk! Let me go, Idiot! I can’t believe you’d take advantage of me like this! No way am I responsible for your perverted thoughts!”

Laxus swallowed the smart ass comeback trying to trip off his tongue. The way Lucy squirmed as she tried to break away was sorely taxing Laxus’ formidable will power and composure. His mind was having a hard time focusing on how to extricate her from her Celestial Spirit’s corpse because she continued squirming her hips into his crotch. Laxus could do little more than bite the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood and create the most revolting images inside his mind. Still, the pain did little to prevent his perverted side from rising to the surface. Worst of all, Laxus was losing the battle to prevent his manhood from jumping to attention.

‘ _If only we weren’t in the middle of a fucking crisis I would so be enjoying this to the fullest right now. I’d be doing all sorts of delightful things to make Blondie scream in pleasure instead of suffering in agony. I’m going to kill those fucking bastards who did this to her the moment this is over and done. Only choice I have is killing those assholes. It'll keep me from fucking her senseless the moment we wake up after her torturing me by grinding her sexy ass into my groin this way.’_

Aloud, Laxus tightened his hold to force the woman to be still before he lost control to the sensations Lucy was giving him. “Shut up! Be still! For Gods sake you need to listen to me, Blondie! If I let go of you, you’re going to be drained to the point that you’ll die. We volunteered to give you our power so you won’t die. Flame Brain and I volunteered to keep you stable while everyone else figures out how to break off several untouchable chains that are killing you! None of this is a big deal, so knock it off with the panicking prude act. You’re being hysterical for no reason. Although, can’t say I blame you for being freaked out considering everything your dealing with right now.”

“What are you talking about, Laxus?” Lucy demanded.

“I doubt anyone realizes that you’ve got what looks like a very dead spirit merging into your soul, Blondie. So calm down and let us save you without fighting us!” Laxus growled right back at her.

Laxus thought he was getting through to the woman because she ceased moving. However, Lucy lifted her chin and Laxus got a good look at her features. Tears streaked her face, and her skin kept sliding between a sickly looking blizzard white and corned beef with cabbage levels of mottled red. Red rimmed, emotional eyes all but sucker punched Laxus in the heart before her lids began to narrow.

“Don’t call me Blondie when you’re as blond as me, Laxus! I have a name and I’d appreciate it if you used it. As to Aquarius, I deserve a lot worse punishment because I betrayed her trust when I broke her key to summon the Celestial King. Doesn’t matter that she told me to do it. I should have asked her what would happen to her before doing it.” Lucy hissed as she settled on giving him a dirty look.

Seeing the fight returning to Lucy’s eyes, Laxus chose to bait her to make her mad enough to keep fighting. “Tch . . . Gotta admit you have a rare talent for getting yourself into trouble . . . So shut it, Sweetheart, because you’re stuck with me and Fire Breath until these deadly chains of yours are gone.” Voice dropping to a seductive whisper, Laxus continued in a bid to truly infuriate the little prude. “After we’re through with this mission, you can show me that you're all woman as a thanks for the save and then go back to hating me to your little heart’s content, Cosplayer.”

Something deep within Laxus core writhed over using such a dirty trick. Yet he had to push the woman into fighting, even if it was against him. He knew he managed to hit the right button as Lucy stiffened inside his hold. Her wide eyed expression could only be described as stunned horror over getting propositioned. Although Laxus had no delusions that Blondie would ever look at him with anything but fury and disgust after saying something so heartless, the fury kindling in her amber eyes was worth the disgust he knew his words would create.

A chest deep growl was Laxus' only warning before Natsu heaved back on Aquarius as Laxus focused upon the distraught woman he refused to release. Concentrating on riling Blondie enough to make her forget their nakedness, Laxus failed to brace himself in time for Natsu's fury induced yanking over hearing his proposition. The hold Laxus had on Lucy insured that he was drawn along with her. Trying to stabilize herself, Lucy instinctively clutched Laxus’ shoulders and jerked back into him. Because Laxus had squatted when he hauled Lucy out of the weird pool earlier, they toppled over to land on top of Natsu, dragging him down beneath their combined weight.

To say that they landed in a very compromising position was an understatement. Unable to get both arms liberated because of one being trapped beneath Aquarius' upper body, Laxus landed on top of Lucy. She had landed on top of Natsu at an angle that probably wedged his crotch up against her sexy ass. Although it was an accident, Laxus forehead slammed into the astral chain ring protruding from the center of Lucy’s voluptuous breasts. Laxus could not suppress the pained grunt that escaped his throat because the chain ring felt solid enough that butting it made his skull ache. Aside from that, drowning in Blondie’s firm, silky skinned perfection was something Laxus had to enjoy. Definitely was nice to feel her better than an average man’s handful smothering his face. It was a real shame that Lucy was keeping such gorgeous breasts to herself Laxus decided.

Lucy was spluttering incoherent noises, and squirming because she was trapped between their two muscular bodies. _‘For the love of God, she’s going to kill me over getting a raging hard on if she doesn't stop moving that way. I’m so never going to believe the prude act ever again. Shit, I’ve gotta get off her like yesterday or lose control over my damned dick at this rate.’_

If not for Natsu’s audible growl from the bottom of their human pile, Laxus would have been tempted to loiter right where he was by using pain as an excuse. However, Laxus was mindful that Natsu could burn Lucy if he failed to get up and save her from feeding Natsu’s potential melt down.

“Get off me and Luce! You’re way too freaking heavy, Bastard!” Natsu yowled as Laxus rolled to the side to untangle his confined arm.

“Give me a damned second, Lame Brain! I need to get my arm free since it's trapped between Blondie and the damned corpse.” Laxus growled in reply.

Pulling back once his arm was free to grab Blondie’s arm and help her up, Laxus could not miss the saucer sized eyes and crimson flush that the dishy little prude was sporting. Lucy Heartfilia was blushing all the way into her ample tits. As if she read his mind, Lucy whipped her arms over her chest and almost yanked Laxus off balance a second time.

‘ _Really is a pity that such a gorgeous, smoking hot body belongs to a damned fuddy-duddy personality. I’d love to break Lucy out of playing little miss nice girl all the time. Talk about a complete waste of one incredibly sexy body! If there is a god out there, I bet he totally hates me because this kind of irony is downright cruel.’_

“I’m going to kill you for saying something like that about Luce, Lightning Rod!” Natsu snarled as a flame shot from his mouth. “Apologize to Luce right now, or so help me I’m going to beat an apology out of you!”

“Huh? Laxus didn’t say anything, Natsu.” Lucy responded with a furrowed brow while biting her lower lip. Laxus took the opportunity to yank her off of Natsu, and pull her back into his arms as a shield.

“I heard him, Luce!” Natsu jumped up as flames erupted across his fists.

Alarm skittered down Laxus spine. Somehow they were in the same place as Lucy’s soul and his instincts howled that Natsu’s anger backed magic could kill Lucy. Instincts had Laxus shifting his body to protect Lucy from accidental injury before he even thought about how it might look to either of his companions.

“Are you seriously trying to kill Blondie, Dumb Ass? Have you already forgotten that we’re magically linked into her right now? Any careless moves with our magic could do irreparable damage to her body or her mind! No matter how many healers are working to save her on the outside right now, if either one of us lose control of our power, she won’t make it out of this mess alive.”

The flames evaporated. “I don’t get you, Laxus. What’s your problem with Lucy being herself? And why do you think we’re somehow inside Lucy when she’s right there in front of us? With you pawing her no less?”

“I am not pawing Blondie, you Jackass. And if you ever tried listening when people are talking, you’d already realize what’s happening. Your biggest problem is your refusal to sit still long enough to pay attention to the things people say, Salamander.”

“That’s Lucy’s job because she’s good at solving puzzles and that kind of stuff. I’m the brute strength in our team. Lucy figures out the weirder parts of all our missions because she’s really good at it. I bet Luce can figure out how to get us out of here way faster than you can, Laxus.”

“Wait a minute, Natsu! I don’t even know how I got here, or why you two are here, or where these crazy things attached to me came from. The last thing I remember was sending you to get Wendy because I could barely breathe. It felt like I was being crushed from the inside and I needed Wendy's help.”

Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand as he listened to the two bickering. Something in both mages voices gave Laxus the impression of siblings intent on arguing. However, another part of his emotions began to writhe with an uncomfortable desire to shut them both up in the most delightful way he could devise. It was jarring to realize that seeing Natsu in his full, naked glory was having a decided affect on Laxus' libido no matter how dumb the younger man sounded. If only Blondie was able to conjure clothes for them all, then Laxus would not be gritting his teeth as he forced the unwelcome rising lust back into the recesses of his mind.

“Well I’ll look forward to Blondie getting into the S class soon. As to what has been happening, I can fill you in on the details any time, Sweetheart.” Laxus bit out.

“I’m sure I’ll make it before Luce because I’m a lot stronger.”

Laxus temper flared at Natsu’s smug tone. “You’re wrong if you think brute strength alone will cut it, Idiot. Gramps said Lucy did a great job of figuring out the clues he gave at the test several years ago, so I believe she’ll have what it takes if she improves her basic combat skills to get rid of that specific weakness. Above all else, S class requires leadership, listening, and thinking skills, Flame Thrower. I’ve done many S class missions. Not one of my missions has ever been solely about demonstrating brute magical strength, and winning fights through guts and stamina alone. Many S class jobs require me to uncover clues and answer riddles. I’d say the percentage requiring brains over brawn is roughly sixty eight percent. Fail the mental test, and no amount of brute strength and raw power will ever get you into the S class ranks. As much as I like your eagerness to tackle any problem, Natsu, you lack the most important ingredient for being an S class mage. If you can’t pay attention long enough to notice, plus unravel the clues, you’ll never be able to solve the majority of S class cases.”

Exhaustion must have begun skewing Laxus perception of time. How long had it been since he began this power share to keep Lucy alive? The answer was beyond Laxus at this point. Natsu was damned strong physically. It was one reason Laxus assigned him the task of pulling the Celestial Spirit’s corpse out of Lucy’s back to temper his raw power through physical exercise. It was disappointing that Natsu had failed to accomplish anything more than giving Laxus a free show, and a couple unintended gropes of Lucy's body during his attempts to separate the two beings from each other.

Aquarius, even in death, was perhaps the most stubborn being that Laxus had ever encountered. Hearing rumors about the fish woman from his guild mates could not do justice to the reality he was facing now. Laxus was determined to find the answer to this riddle of how a dead spirit was merging into Blondie. Due to the power drain happening, Laxus had to get this corpse out of the sexy debutante because it was causing serious damage to Lucy’s magic and life force.

Laxus had more refined magical control so was better suited to supporting Lucy’s life force needs than the overly eager younger Slayer. For better or worse, Natsu did not even understand the concept of self control. The bigger problem that Laxus was noticing was all the magic power flying through the ceiling which was not returning to Lucy as Laxus thought it should. If his suspicion was correct, all the magic he was sharing with Lucy was getting diverted which was a very bad sign. Natsu collapsed onto his knees in front of them, face morphing into a childish pout.

“Can’t get Aquarius off of Luce unless I burn her off. But if it will hurt Luce, I can’t risk trying to do it.” Natsu grumbled while glaring at the arm wrapped urn with head, shoulder, plus section of torso slumping over Lucy’s back as an odd angle.

“Glad you realized something that important on your own. If you hadn’t, I’d be knocking you out for Blondie’s safety, Natsu. Now we know that we won’t be able to remove the spirit from Blondie by using brute force.” The urn was likewise pissing Laxus off the most because it was shooting a steady stream of raw energy into the air and out of sight.

If not for the growing suspicion that it was the urn that prevented the spirit from fully merging into Lucy, Laxus would have ordered Natsu to rip it from the corpse's grasp in an attempt to stop the power drain. The lack of information on what the spirit's corpse fully merging with Lucy's soul would do to her forced Laxus to hold his tongue. It needed to be a last ditch plan if only because Laxus had no idea of what kinds of repercussions such a move would unleash on Blondie. For the present, Laxus knew he still had plenty of magic to share with the small woman sulking in his arms.

“I’ll have to figure out another way to safely separate them. I don’t know more than the rudimentary stuff about Celestial Magic so it’s going to take me some time to come up with a working plan. I’m a lot more worried about how the urn and the chains are taking so much of Blondie’s magic and life force away from her. The two draining elements may kill her if we can’t reverse at least one of these power flows.”

Despite the deadly nature of Lucy’s situation, Laxus found that he was pleased to be in the thick of saving her no matter the frustrations it entailed. A voice in Laxus' mind attributed his irrational contentment to finally following his ethics and aiding the young woman leaning against his bare chest, panting from her growing fatigue. Another part of Laxus mind snapped that protecting his favorite girl made this headache worthwhile.

“What do you know about what’s happening to me, Laxus?” Lucy asked which side tracked Laxus from the unwelcome mental argument trying to evolve within himself.

Blondie seemed like she was finally calm enough to get curious. With a heavy sigh, Laxus dropped down onto the grass covered ground and tugged her halfway across his lap. When she tried to squirm away, Laxus wrapped his free arm back beneath the spirit to grasp around her shoulders. “Stop struggling. I’m only doing this to keep you stable so quit being a pain in the ass. I have to touch you to keep my magic flow regulated, Blondie. Trying to do this without contact means I could electrocute you by accident”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that before you’ll open your own ears and listen, Sparky?” Lucy snapped as she whacked the outside of his thigh in a pitiful attempt at a punch. Still, Laxus was relieved that she stopped trying to wiggle free.

“Do you really prefer getting called Cosplayer then?” Whatever possessed Laxus to ask such a question escaped him.

Yet Laxus was not the least disappointed when Lucy’s temper ignited and she gave him a very intimidating glare while pummeling his chest. “Oh you are such an arrogant ass, Laxus Dreyer! I swear you do that to make me mad on purpose.”

Laxus could not contain the smirk and chuckle that her female pique caused. “Sorry, I can’t help picking on you in good fun, Lucy. You’re way too funny when you overreact.”

Huffing, Lucy crossed her arms over her ample chest and turned up her cute little nose to glare off in the distance. Although her lips did not move, Laxus had the distinct impression that Lucy realized he was being a jerk for a reason, and not because he truly meant what he had whispered earlier. The sensation that he knew what she was realizing was disorienting to the extreme. While the gorgeous woman contemplated something in her head, her expression morphed into one of confusion and curiosity as Laxus watched her profile.

A moment later Lucy leaned forward, almost overbalancing them both because of the added weight on her back shifting from her movement. “Uhm, what’s that?”

Laxus shifted to hold her steady as Lucy lifted an arm and pointed behind Natsu. Following her gaze, Laxus was startled to see images that seemed to focus on Natsu’s life flashing and flowing across the shield. The shield looked as if it had contracted somewhat since he first arrived, and gave Lucy a much needed power boost.

The pink haired youth twisted around and leapt to his feet. “Wow! I remember that day. Igneel was making me break boulders to teach me how to focus my fire and spirit strength into my fists. I really do miss dad. Maybe Gajeel’s dragon is right, and I’ll get to see Igneel soon.”

Lucy twisted to look around the space they were trapped within, a thoughtful look crossing her features. Without warning she reached back, grabbed onto Laxus bicep and hauled herself deeper into his lap, while rising onto her knees. Laxus cocked an eyebrow while wondering if she had decided he was her new personal jungle gym. The view of peaches and cream skin especially her voluptuous chest up close to his mouth was almost worth the indignity, but not quite. Feeling her toned leg brushing against his cock forced Laxus to grit his teeth and fight down another wave of desire. One thing was for certain, Laxus was going to be hunting down willing partners once they were out of Lucy's mind before his libido exploded into reality and he jumped both of them.

“Oy, Blondie, what the fuck are you doing now?”Laxus ground out between clenched teeth.

“Sorry, Laxus, but Natsu’s memories aren’t the only one’s appearing. Looks like yours are also.” Lucy reported.

His jaw clenching so tight his molars started grinding, Laxus twisted to see where she was pointing with sadness on her face. The sight that greeted Laxus eyes was not a pleasant memory. His father was holding the dragon lacrima that was magically implanted into his right eye. Seeing his father leaning in closer with magic sparking upon his fingers, Laxus felt bile rising in his throat. His eyes closing, Laxus took a deep breath to contain the unwelcome surge of a roiling stomach.

‘ _Why is one of my most horrible memories showing up inside Blondie’s head like this? So are Natsu’s memories for that matter. What the hell is going on? Nobody mentioned anything like this happening when I volunteered to help Blondie by sharing my power with her. Don’t recall ever reading, or hearing about any magic that has this kind of effect. What the hell did those bastards do to us?’_

“Are you alright, Laxus?” Lucy’s concern pulled Laxus out of his thoughts. He turned away from the images playing out his life, and looked into the woman’s warm brown eyes.

“Fine, Blondie. Just trying to figure out what the hell is happening. I’ve never heard of magic that has so many oddities to it. Your memories are also showing up, but since I'm pretty sure we're inside your mind, I expected as much. Not like I'm going to tell anyone, or paying too much attention to them since I do respect your privacy.”

Lucy shuddered but gave him a nod. “I’ve heard that some branches of ancient magic had really strange side effects. It was the side effects that convinced Mages to stop using it in the long run,”

“Could be. Considering it seems we are dealing with real Fairies and they have been extinct for a long time, I can only guess that their magic has an adverse effect on humans at this point.” Laxus responded in kind.

“Then why did you and Natsu volunteer to get stuck inside my mind?” Lucy asked with a stern, worried expression marring her features.

“I’ve already told you that we’re keeping you alive while the rest of our Guild figures out how to save you. Fairy Tail Mages don’t abandon out own when they’re in trouble and you damned well know it, Blondie.” Laxus growled.

“He's right, Luce. At least we know why Laxus acts like a jerk now. Looks like he had a worse childhood than I did.”

The last thing Laxus wanted was for Lucy to start feeling sorry for him since she had seen such a gruesome and cruel piece of his own history. Stranger still, Laxus had the feeling that he knew things about Lucy and Natsu outside of the images flowing over the shield. Such was a physical impossibility no matter how Laxus looked at their current situation. The feeling that the woman sitting in his lap felt very lonely for a very long time was one of many things surfacing from an unidentified corner within himself. The sense of confusion and desperation to stay in control that seemed to radiate from Natsu gave Laxus additional vertigo on emotional levels. Feeling as if Natsu was desperately seeking his approval and acceptance was likewise getting stronger, and it threw Laxus off balance even worse than the growing certainty of Blondie believing she was worthless and deserved to be forever alone.

Seeing the intense war raging inside the Flame Dragon Slayer's mind and heart around the clock explained much of Natsu's obnoxious behavior. It appeared that Natsu was constantly battling against instincts more befitting of a beast than a man. Recognition sparked within Laxus' chest. Similar instincts had driven him to attack his own Guild mates and closest friends not to long ago. The desperation to assert his dominance over everyone else, especially Gramps, had ended in Laxus enduring temporary excommunication. Somehow Natsu continued winning his ferocious personal battle, even if he did so by focusing everything he had on curbing his instincts. It was less a case of genuine stupidity that made the Flame brain so irritating, as Natsu had little focus left for doing any rational thinking. Every single fight challenge Natsu unleashed in Laxus' direction took on an all new level of meaning. Somehow Natsu was trusting Laxus to help him curb his unruly instincts with each challenge hurled in his direction. It was when Natsu felt the least in control that he turned to Laxus for a quick instinct level reset of sorts.

Then there was Lucy Heartfilia's life. What Laxus had seen of her memories looked downright barren of any meaningful human contact, outside of the corpse merging with her soul. The others who interacted regularly with the young girl wore maid and butler uniforms. They fussed over her much as a child would when playing with a favorite doll. The analogy slammed through Laxus on levels he could scarce comprehend.

If the collection of images floating in the air around them were true, Lucy Heartfilia knew all too well how it felt to be lacking no matter how hard she tried to live up to expectations. A thing Laxus also understood to a painful degree. The longing for love and acceptance was strangling something deep within Laxus as he sought to keep his focus where it needed to remain, on rescuing their group. It seemed as if Natsu was picking up on both of their growing distress as the pink haired menace began to glare at their collective realities playing out for all of them to watch.

To shift things back onto safer ground, Laxus addressed both pensive companions. “Look, let’s focus on how we can get rid of the chains and the Spirit that’s attached to you for now. We need to keep our priorities straight, Lucy. Same goes for you too, Natsu. Stop spacing out and let’s get things fixed on this end so we can all wake up.”

Natsu smacked his fists together with his trademark grin surfacing. “Sure. Tell me what needs to get done and you can count on me.”

Laxus rolled his eyes and held in the groan he felt tickle the back of his throat. If nothing else, Laxus figured he was going to discover an all new level of patience due to working with the hyperactive Dragon Slayer. Despite trying to maintain his normal irritation with Natsu's childish behaviors, Laxus could not deny the sorrow and pain felt within himself. Such unwelcome emotions were generated by the images flashing across the shield to reveal all of their miserable lives.


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail cannons nor make money off writing this story. I own the lunatics I throw at the cannons to cause mayhem and bedlam for everyone’s entertainment. This is directly tied to the previous chapters, but from Natsu’s point of view. Expect overlapping dialog. Hope everyone gets a better understanding of different views.

*** _Natsu's thoughts/_ _ **Laxus thoughts**_

CHAPTER 10

 

The shuddering barrier Natsu rammed his fire encased fists into bulged outward and then passed over Natsu's body with such force that Natsu lost his balance and bearings. Sunlight blinded him after being in pitch blackness for what had felt like an eternity. As his vision cleared, Natsu found himself laying upon a thick layer of trimmed grass. Sitting up, he looked around at the lush vegetation and flowers that were everywhere with increased confusion. It looked like he was sitting in one of the fancy gardens of some of the clients his team had worked for over the years.

The sound of two people talking caught Natsu's ears. He hurried toward the voices he recognized. Natsu’s instincts rejected the sight in front of him as he closed on Laxus and Lucy together. Anger flared in his gut strong enough to startle Natsu. First thing that registered in Natsu’s retinas was that both of them were nude. His gut clenched because Natsu knew better than anyone else that Lucy was going to have ongoing hysteria fits every time she remembered that none of them had any clothes on. Natsu shuddered because he knew that his ears were going to be ringing, if not bleeding, and his head would be aching until everything got fixed, or they found some clothes to put on.

The second thing Natsu noticed that also irritated him was the way Laxus was holding Lucy. It looked possessive for some reason. Natsu had no idea why Laxus had his arms wrapped around Lucy that way, but it left him feeling unsettled. Memories flooded Natsu's mind of all the things Laxus had done in the past while trotting toward them. Another part of Natsu felt like he was intruding somewhere he was not wanted, at least by Laxus. The feeling compounded his discomfort ten fold. Shaking off that twinge of inexplicable anger and dread, Natsu closed on the pair.

Still, of all the people that Natsu could discover himself tag teamed with to save Lucy, Laxus was the most unexpected. He went from being trapped in a blank, black space, to blinking his eyes and discovering himself laying in the middle of some kind of fancy garden with his best friend and Laxus as naked as himself in what Erza would call a compromising position if ever Natsu has seen one. Whatever the spell was, Natsu felt downright strange about how it made everything turn out. To make things feel stranger, a team effort with Laxus was not something that Natsu was certain would even work. If anything, Laxus had a long history of placing conditions on everything involving Lucy. With Phantom Lord's attack, the condition was Lucy had to be his woman to get any help for the guild. Other dangerous scenarios where Lucy was in trouble, with Laxus trying to add conditions along similar themes, rose to the forefront of Natsu’s whirling thoughts as he watched the embracing pair.

“Luce! Where are you? I’m here to save you, so answer me!” Natsu yelled to alert them that he was coming.

As Lucy’s best friend, and growing up with Laxus, Natsu figured Laxus was being mean to her for a reason. Still, Natsu could not understand why Laxus singled Lucy out. Part of Natsu wished that Laxus would ask Lucy to spend time with him since he kept hammering Lucy with such stupid conditions whenever she needed help. To Natsu, life would be easier If Laxus would become Lucy's friend, the same as everyone else was. It even made sense that Laxus wanted to become Lucy’s friend since she was a great person. Natsu even believed Lucy would be a great help for Laxus to get over his anger problems. Not to mention Laxus would be able to show Lucy ways of protecting herself since Natsu knew Laxus had taught his own team many of their skills. Yet Laxus did none of the things Natsu expected.

Natsu dropped beside them. “Luce? Are you okay?” With an unexpected surge of irritation, Natsu snarled at Laxus before he could curb the sudden instinctive anger inside himself. “What do you think you’re fucking doing, groping Luce like that?”

Guild mate opinions flashed through Natsu’s mind while glaring at Laxus. Mirajane insisted Laxus had a crush on Lucy after each incident where the older man pulled such a stunt. Worst of all, Mirajane was not the only one who noticed that Laxus never demanded any conditions for aiding anyone else from their guild before Lucy joined. When Lucy was a new member, the topic was hotly discussed by most of the guild until it became just another common feature. Now it was treated as an ongoing joke Laxus played on Lucy to make her squirm. Everyone knew Laxus made no attempts to spend time with Lucy whenever he was home. Several members believed Laxus resented Lucy for the times that Fairy Tail had fought as a guild to rescue Lucy because of her super rare magic type.

Laxus snapped at him, “I’m not groping Blondie, Firebrand! I have to hang onto her in order to give her as much of my energy as possible to keep her alive! Why don’t you stop jumping to conclusions and get the fucking corpse off her back before it kills her?!”

The angry response sounded reasonable to Natsu. He had heard and seen enough about healing magic from Wendy to accept the Lightning Slayer’s answer, even if he did not like it. Satisfied that nothing out of line was happening, Natsu nodded. Then the second part of Laxus commentary sank into his mind. To see what Laxus was talking about, Natsu leapt to his feet, and suddenly choked as he saw a mostly submerged Aquarius sticking out of Lucy’s back. ' _How the_ _fuck am I_ _supposed manhandle Lucy’s most terrifying spirit without getting the shit beat out of_ _us_ _all?_ _If she wakes up we're all gonna get drowned!'_

“I know it’s disturbing, but we gotta save Blondie so you gotta pull that off her back!”

“How’d Aquarius get here? Why’s she stuck to Luce like this?” Natsu muttered as he tried to understand what he was seeing.

“We don’t have time for questions before we get them separated, Flame Brain. Blondie’s in serious danger of dying. If we can get Blondie stable, I’ll tell you what I figured out about what’s happening. We have to work fast, and get Blondie stable or she’s going to die. If you got caught in that pitch black nothingness like I did, then you should realize it exists because Blondie’s dying.”

Natsu tried to keep up with everything Laxus was saying. He was fighting to put the pieces together despite his instincts writhing and seething just beneath his skin. The strength of his instincts were sidetracking Natsu's attention, and he well knew the consequences. Considering his instincts were already raising an unholy stink over Lucy being in danger, Natsu had to do all he could for his best friend. The thing throwing him off the most was how Laxus was behaving. It felt downright strange to see Laxus loaning a hand without some kind of demands being agreed to beforehand.

Such odd behavior on Laxus part did not sit well with Natsu no matter the reason behind it. He could not explain why he felt like Laxus would try to take Lucy away from him when he least expected Laxus to act. Perhaps Natsu’s instincts saw Laxus acting like an asshole as Lucy being threatened? Such a reason was the only way Natsu could process his response whenever Laxus gave Luce a bad time. Then again, Natsu rarely spared much time thinking about anything outside of keeping his instincts from escaping his shaky control. Still, whenever Laxus pulled his strange pranks on Lucy, Natsu had a far harder struggle to keep from exploding in his fellow Dragon Slayer's face.

“But, everything turned into this place all of a sudden.” Natsu absently protested, trying much harder to focus on Laxus words without losing control of his unruly dragon side.

“I’m giving Blondie enough of my life energy to keep her alive. Considering how much she’s draining from me, it allowed her to stabilize enough to return part of her vitality and energy which is what this garden represents, Dumb Ass! What do you think those healers were talking about us doing when they used that weird feeling spell to link us to her? To save her, we have to work together to undo the damage, and give her enough energy to survive this attack that’s killing her.”

As Natsu listened while holding down his emotion driven draconic side, everything began to click into place. To save Lucy, Natsu had to deal with Aquarius even if the mean tempered Spirit tried to kill him. Natsu circled behind Lucy, grabbed Aquarius’s arm, and gave a couple experimental tugs on the spirit to pull her out of Lucy’s back. Part of Natsu expected the mermaid’s eyes to open, and her full wrath to fall on his head because he was yanking on her to wake her up. However, Aquarius was not reacting at all, and even seemed abnormally stiff. Fear started to dig into Natsu's gut. _'I_ _s Aquarius_ _really_ _dead?_ _'_

A glance at the squatting Laxus, who was holding Lucy tightly against his chest caused another wave of irritation to rise for reasons Natsu could not name. “You know, I could hold onto her and you could try to get Aquarius free. You’re taller than me.”

The annoyed expression on Laxus face was accompanied by fast narrowing eyes. “If I could, I would switch places with you to try and rip that corpse off her back. The problem is that you’d probably fry Blondie instead of give her a manageable level energy boost. Plus the rate I’m being drained is frightening.”

“I’m so sorry, Laxus, Natsu. You don’t have to do this for me. Just let me go.” Lucy sounded exhausted as she tried to push them both away verbally.

“Forget it, Luce! You’re my best friend and I won’t abandon you!” Natsu snarled at Lucy for saying something so stupid.

It was a very Lucy thing to say, and Natsu hated whenever she did such things, but it was part of who Lucy was and Natsu knew her weirdness would never change. He might not understand how Lucy could say such dumb things, but as her friend, Natsu was determined to make sure she would be okay, even if she got mad at him.

Laxus sighed and began talking. Natsu was not sure if it was for his benefit or Lucy’s, but he was trying to understand the gist of everything Laxus was saying while struggling to remove Aquarius from Lucy's back.

“We got some visitors right after Gajeel used that spell to knock you out so we could buy enough time to get you healed. The strangers admitted to tampering with some kind of demon trapping seals that your damned Lion spirit helped create several thousand years ago, Blondie. The original seals that keep the damned demon trapped are destabilizing because of the tampering they did to turn certain human bloodlines into automatic repair lacrimas of a sort. The chains stuck to you right now are from the tampering that was done to the seals. Your being sucked dry of your magic and life force at an insane rate to keep that fucking demon locked away. The tampering that the newcomers did to make the prison stronger is putting your life at risk. The fact that Loke knows, but doesn’t trust the Fairies in that party is also worrisome. But right now, I do know that if you die, some really bad ass demon that destroyed all but a small chink of a continent will be free to destroy Fiore at an insane pace if we can’t save you.”

Lucy whipped her head up and around to look at Laxus. “No way! Are you messing with me?”

Laxus’ expression shifted toward genuine anger over Luce's reaction as his body went rigid over being questioned. “How the fuck could I come up with such a ridiculous story on my own, Blondie? You’re from the Orion bloodline according to those damned Fairies. They claimed to have come out of a Time Suspension spell to stop the demon they call Abyss Lord from getting free. You’re the key to releasing the damned demon but nobody knew it until now. The reason for all the Dark Guild attacks on you is because of those bastards making your ancestors into the power source that feeds the prison and repairs it.”

“Why would anyone do something so horrible?” Lucy whispered as the fresh scent of tears began filtering into Natsu’s nose.

Laxus looked like it hurt him to answer much to Natsu's unabashed surprise. The older man pulled Lucy’s head flush against his chest as he audibly swallowed before speaking.

“You’re guess is as good as mine, Blondie. But they already verified that you’re illness is because of what they did, and Loke said they were telling the truth.”

As Lucy cried even harder, Laxus looked up at him over Lucy’s head. Laxus had a look on his face that gave Natsu's instincts the shivers. The same instincts warned Natsu to keep his mouth shut because Laxus was on the brink of losing control of a rage that Natsu understood all too well when Luce was in danger. However, a part of Natsu’s dragon senses fought even harder to break free over being replaced as Lucy’s main comforter. Taking a deep breath, Laxus continued to hold Lucy as if trying to figure out what to do with her.

“Calm down, Luce. I’ll get you out of this mess, same as always. You know I’ll make sure you’re safe.” Natsu shifted his stance in preparation to drag Aquarius’ carcass out of Lucy’s back as his determination to keep his promise solidified.

Natsu prided himself on his job of protecting Lucy since he brought her into the Guild. Laxus was never going to take that position away because the Lightning Rod would go right back to the Thunder Legion once this mission was over. Lucy would come to him to cry as always after she was out of danger. If Laxus was trapped because of giving Lucy life sustaining energy, then Natsu needed to fight off, and deal with, the rest of the threat so they could get back to normal. Soothing the Dragon half with those thoughts, Natsu gave a much harder tug on the Mermaid’s arm with no results. It was worrisome that Aquarius was not budging. Despite his qualms, Natsu decided to use all of his strength with the next pull. It would probably hurt Lucy a lot, but Laxus was right that they could not leave Aquarius stuck in Lucy’s body. It had not escaped Natsu's notice that the spirit's water jug was spewing energy into the ceiling. If it was the energy escaping that was going to kill Lucy, then Natsu had to find a means to separate the cranky fish woman from his friend's back.

Natsu heard Lucy sniffling and looked over in time to see her twisting her upper body inside Laxus' hold to look up at him. The bright pink flush and wide eyed look on her face warned Natsu to brace for her ear splitting scream. What Natsu had not expected was how fast Lucy’s face whipped back toward Laxus’ chest.

“Natsu, you pervert! Where the hell are your clothes? It’s bad enough Gray strips all the time, but I expect better from you! How dare you copy Gray?”

Natsu already knew Lucy would have a melt down, but to compare him to the Icicle was downright mean. Nudity always ended with Lucy losing her temper and panicking. It was the one thing Natsu would never understand. Why Luce thought it was such a big problem was beyond comprehension. Everyone had a body so her freak outs seemed quite extreme to him. It was not as if Natsu thought there was anything wrong with Lucy’s body. If anything, Natsu thought Lucy should be happy with her body. Although he would never mention it, Natsu had seen plenty of men watch his best friend during missions. A number of Mayors had even made a point of discussing the mission with Lucy specifically so they could try to hide the fact they were staring at her chest.

“I’m not copying that stupid stripper! You’re just as naked as me and Laxus, Luce! Damn, you’re such a weirdo at times!” Natsu yelled while preparing to yank hard on Aquarius’ arm to vent hisgrowing irewith their situation.

A dark aura surrounded Lucy and Aquarius. She tried to cover her breasts with her arms and began screaming. Natsu found himself wincing, but was grateful that Laxus was strong enough to keep Lucy from getting up and kicking them both into the stratosphere.

“Don’t look at me you perverts! Where’re my clothes? You two better get dressed right now! This isn’t funny!”

Laxus barked in his most commanding voice, “Shut it, Blondie! We’re inside your mind so we can’t do a damned thing about being naked in your territory. We’re probably naked because some part of your own brain wants to see us like this. Furthermore, we didn’t know when we agreed to shore up your life force that this would happen. The Fairies cast some spell that is supposed to strengthen your life force by using our magic to save your life. So if being naked bugs you so much, figure out how to make clothes for us!”

Laxus words caught the sum of Natsu’s attention and it sank into him faster than most things. Without words Natsu felt himself homing in on the concept that Laxus had voiced. Scratching his head, Natsu tried to catch up with the odd accusation that Lucy wanted to see them naked. For several seconds the dragon side remained still which was very rare. He was at a loss about what to expect, but hearing they were in Lucy's mind was something Natsu had not considered. Winging it was Natsu’s trademark since he did not have the luxury of thinking too deeply if he wanted to keep his dragon magic under control. Letting Lucy or Erza do the thinking worked best for Natsu, so he was happier focusing on fighting. It was far harder trying to understand what Laxus was implying.

‘ _If we’re in Luc_ _e_ _’s mind, and are nude because_ _she_ _wants to see us that way, what does that mean? Why would Luce yell at us if she actually wants to see us this way? Plus Luce always kicks me out of her bed and won’t take a bath with me_ _or_ _Gray even if Erza is there and tells us to bathe together. Laxus isn’t making any sense when I think about how Lucy reacts to any of us being undressed around her.’_

“Don’t you dare blame this on me, Jerk! Let me go, Idiot! I can’t believe you’d take advantage of me like this! No way am I responsible for your perverted thoughts!”

Lucy began fighting to break out of Laxus embrace and part of Natsu could not help being happy about her determined struggle. Still, Laxus said it was the only way he could keep Lucy alive by giving her energy, so Natsu found himself ready to yell at her to be still.

With a shift in his expression going from uncomfortable to pained, Laxus settled on his cranky norm and snapped at Lucy before Natsu could open his mouth. The Lightning Slayer’s muscular arms visibly tensed with controlling Lucy’s squirming.

“Shut up! Be still! For Gods sake you need to listen to me, Blondie! If I let go of you, you’re going to be drained to the point that you’ll die. We volunteered to give you our power so you won’t die. Flame Brain and I volunteered to keep you stable while everyone else figures out how to break off several untouchable chains that are killing you! None of this is a big deal, so knock it off with the panicking prude act. You’re being hysterical for no reason. Although, can’t say I blame you for being freaked out considering everything your dealing with right now.”

“What are you talking about, Laxus?” Lucy demanded as Natsu caught her profile, which looked irate.

“I doubt anyone realizes that you’ve got what looks like a very dead spirit merging into your soul, Blondie. So calm down and let us save you without fighting us!” Laxus growled as he stared Lucy down.

Natsu found himself grateful that it was not his job to try to explain things to Luce. In fact, were he the one holding onto Lucy at that moment he knew he would have been in major trouble.

In classic Lucy style, Natsu glimpsed his best friend lifting her chin in defiance and a healthy dose of embarrassment considering how red her visible cheek looked. The smell of new tears hit Natsu’s nose. “Don’t call me Blondie when you’re as blond as me, Laxus! I have a name and I’d appreciate it if you used it. As to Aquarius, I deserve a lot worse punishment because I betrayed her trust when I broke her key to summon the Celestial King. Doesn’t matter that she told me to do it. I should have asked her what would happen to her before doing it.” Lucy gave Laxus a lecture in her scariest level quiet voice.

Natsu knew that voice all too well. Luce screaming was safer than Luce hissing any day. When she stopped screaming, it meant that she was at her most plotting and devious. Laxus was not going to enjoy being alive once Luce got her revenge. On the heels of that thought, Lucy's words began to sink into Natsu's mind. _'Wait!_ _Luc_ _e b_ _roke Aquarius's key to summon Stache Face? When_ _'_ _d that happen?_ _'_

“Tch . . . Gotta admit you have a rare talent for getting yourself into trouble . . . So shut it, Sweetheart, because you’re stuck with me and Fire Breath until these deadly chains of yours are gone.” Voice dropping to a seductive whisper, Laxus continued, “After we’re through with this mission, you can show me that you're all woman as a thanks for the save and then go back to hating me to your little heart’s content, Cosplayer.”

Fury ignited in Natsu's gut at hearing Laxus being his normal jerk of a self. Of course Laxus was putting conditions on helping Lucy. The man never did anything without a price tag it seemed. In the middle of the all time worst possible situation imaginable, Laxus was adding demands for his help. Anger mounting, Natsu stopped caring whether or not Laxus had a good enough hold on Lucy to keep her in place. Natsu's teeth ground together as his anger ignited and he planted his legs in the right position. Gripping Aquarius' at the right angle, Natsu tensed to give a solid heave ho. To prevent ripping the corpse's arm off, Natsu had changed his hold on the Mermaid to get a grip behind the neck, angled between her shoulder blades.

With the new hold locked, Natsu yanked Aquarius toward his torso with all his weight backing the motion while Laxus was arguing with Lucy. What Natsu had not counted on was Aquarius’ and her damned hard urn slamming into him at high speed which threw off his balance. Trying to brace on his back leg, Natsu discovered himself bending backward as the Mermaid's urn shoved hard into his chest and face. Caught under the weight of Lucy and Aquarius, Natsu found himself falling beneath their combined weight bearing him down. A very short shriek from Lucy was all the warning Natsu got that something had gone very wrong.

Next thing Natsu knew, he was forced hard into the grass with his breath knocked out of his lungs. The first thing Natsu heard was Lucy spluttering incoherent noises. Natsu could see thick and powerful arms that belonged to the resident spiky blond haired jerk. Seeing the massive arm planted next to his shoulder helped Natsu realize that Lucy and Laxus had both fallen on top of him when he used his real strength to get Aquarius out of Lucy’s body.

“Get off me and Luce! You’re way too freaking heavy, Bastard!” Natsu snapped with what little air he had left in his lungs.

“Give me a damned second, Lame Brain! I need to get my arm free since it's trapped between Blondie and the damned corpse.” Laxus snarled.

“ _ **Really is a pity that such a gorgeous, smoking hot body belongs to a damned fuddy-duddy personality. I’d love to break Lucy out of playing little miss nice girl all the time. Talk about a complete waste of one incredibly sexy body! If there is a god out there, I bet he totally hates me because this kind of irony is downright cruel.”**_ Natsu heard Laxus say.

Rage shot through Natsu when he realized the meaning of what the man he viewed as his big brother dared say about Lucy. It was one thing for Laxus to have a constantly shifting smell overlay from all the people he slept beside and that included his teammates. Making such a remark about Lucy truly infuriated Natsu as nothing else could. Unlike popular belief, Natsu did know what sex was, and also realized that his dragon instincts could go berserk if he failed to find a better control solution before ever exploring that layer of being a man. The gut deep dread that Natsu ignored where Laxus was concerned rose to a near choking level before Natsu could completely quell it. Rage seeped out his mouth before Natsu could vanquish his Dragon side.

“I’m going to kill you for saying something like that about Luce, Lightning Rod!” Natsu snarled as a flame shot from his mouth. “Apologize to Luce right now, or so help me I’m going to beat an apology out of you!”

“Huh? Laxus didn’t say anything, Natsu.” Lucy answered him as she and Aquarius were pulled off of him, and right back into Laxus arms which wrapped around her in a possessive way that was starting to register in Natsu's dragon instinct levels. Natsu rushed back onto his feet. Lucy was giving him an odd look like he was losing his mind while biting her lower lip.

“I heard him, Luce!” Natsu could not stop the flames from erupting around his fists as he glared at Laxus for being so disrespectful, plus groping her in front of Natsu’s eyes yet again.

After hearing something so crude come out of Laxus mouth, Natsu was no longer in the mood to give Laxus the benefit of the doubt. If Laxus thought he could insult Luce like that, then he had another think coming the dragon half was saying, although it had no words per say. Natsu simply knew without words that Laxus was crossing the wrong line and he was not going to stand by and let Luce get hurt. It did not escape Natsu that Laxus moved his body to shield Lucy as if he believed she was in danger. Before Natsu could launch an attack, Laxus expression turned dangerous.

The man growled from his broad chest, soft and deep, his throat unleashing a resonant animal sound that ended in words. “Are you seriously trying to kill Blondie, Dumb Ass? Have you already forgotten that we’re magically linked into her right now? Any careless moves with our magic could do irreparable damage to her body or her mind! No matter how many healers are working to save her on the outside right now, if either one of us lose control of our power, she won’t make it out of this mess alive.”

The flames evaporated as Laxus words hit Natsu below the belt. It felt as if Laxus was plotting something underhanded, but Natsu could not deny that the Lightning Slayer had a valid point. If his magic went out of control, Luce could die. Even Laxus scent warned Natsu that Laxus was sincerely convinced that they were somehow inside her body. Natsu knew better than to cave when it came to his dragon side. Far too often Natsu lost control of his magic output during missions and did more damage than intended. Anger was not going to help Natsu to protect Lucy and he knew that better than anyone else.

Natsu decided to fight back with words instead of fists. “I don’t get you, Laxus. What’s your problem with Lucy being herself? And why do you think we’re somehow inside Lucy when she’s right there in front of us? With you pawing her no less?”

“I am not pawing Blondie, you Jackass. And if you ever tried listening when people are talking, you’d already realize what’s happening. Your biggest problem is your refusal to sit still long enough to pay attention to the things people say, Salamander.” The arrogance and borderline disgust in Laxus voice were palpable.

If there was one thing Natsu knew, it was that Lucy deserved every drop of credit for her brains. “That’s Lucy’s job because she’s good at solving puzzles and that kind of stuff. I’m the brute strength in our team. Lucy figures out the weirder parts of all our missions because she’s really good at it. I bet Luce can figure out how to get us out of here way faster than you can, Laxus.”

Natsu had no problem with Lucy’s lack of physical strength, or her reliance upon her spirit friends. Lucy was one of the smartest mages Natsu had the pleasure to know. So he saw no reason to deny her value. Being on the same team had increased Natsu’s respect for Lucy a hundred fold over several years time. Smarts, unconditional love, and forgiveness were Lucy’s greatest strength, which Laxus knew nothing about, and that would swing the argument in Natsu’s favor.

“Wait a minute, Natsu! I don’t even know how I got here, or why you two are here, or where these crazy things attached to me came from. The last thing I remember was sending you to get Wendy because I could barely breathe. It felt like I was being crushed from the inside and I needed Wendy's help.” Lucy protested on the heels of Natsu’s declaration.

Natsu watched as Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “Well I’ll look forward to Blondie getting into the S class soon. As to what has been happening, I can fill you in on the details any time, Sweetheart.”

“I’m sure I’ll make it before Luce because I’m a lot stronger.” Natsu snapped at the bigger Dragon Slayer because he felt a creeping suspicion that Laxus was hiding something important from both of them.

Laxus gave him an icy glare as a few sparks of lightning slipped across the larger man’s forearms before vanishing beneath the angry man’s skin. “You’re wrong if you think brute strength alone will cut it, Idiot. Gramps said Lucy did a great job of figuring out the clues he gave at the test several years ago, so I believe she’ll have what it takes if she improves her basic combat skills to get rid of that specific weakness. Above all else, S class requires leadership, listening, and thinking skills, Flame Thrower. I’ve done many S class missions. Not one of my missions has ever been solely about demonstrating brute magical strength, and winning fights through guts and stamina alone. Many S class jobs require me to uncover clues and answer riddles. I’d say the percentage requiring brains over brawn is roughly sixty eight percent. Fail the mental test, and no amount of brute strength and raw power will ever get you into the S class ranks. As much as I like your eagerness to tackle any problem, Natsu, you lack the most important ingredient for being an S class mage. If you can’t pay attention long enough to notice, plus unravel the clues, you’ll never be able to solve the majority of S class cases.”

As unwelcome as Laxus hard lecture was, Natsu did recall Gramps making them do some kind of clue related search for Master Mavis’ grave when they were taking the S class exams right before the dark guild, Zeref, and then Acnologia arrived. Things Gildarts had told Natsu during their fight also rose to the fore. Laxus was not alone in reminding Natsu that he needed to find a better way to keep his dragon magic under control.

As much as Luce helped him to remain in control of his power, her calming aura was not really capable of stabilizing his magic anywhere near enough to bring true relief. Until he found a better control tactic, thinking things through was damned hard because Natsu had to maintain iron control over his magic and instincts at the same time. Natsu collapsed onto his knees as his heart sank. One of his bigger dreams was becoming an S class mage so that Igneel would have plenty of reason to be proud of him when they met again.

It was all his dragon side’s fault for making Natsu’s instincts so hard to keep in line. If not for the overwhelming emotions and impulses coming from the dragon side, Natsu knew he would be able to free up his thoughts for other things like thinking about clues. No matter how much more bearable Luce's presence made things, Natsu knew she was not able to curb his dragon magic's instincts.

“Can’t get Aquarius off of Luce unless I burn her off. But if it will hurt Luce, I can’t risk trying to do it.” Natsu grumbled while glaring at the offending Spirit that had decided to get stuck to his best friend’s back.

If his fire hurt Lucy, Natsu would hate himself for as long as he lived. Killing Lucy was a very real possibility, even before figuring out all the other weird parts to try and keep track of in getting Luce back safely. Natsu hated having to admit that he was not going to be able to save Lucy without lots of help. Unfortunately, he had to let Laxus take the credit for finding a working solution and the knowledge really annoyed his dragon magic.

“Glad you realized something that important on your own. If you hadn’t, I’d be knocking you out for Blondie’s safety, Natsu. Now we know that we won’t be able to remove the spirit from Blondie by using brute force.” Natsu gritted his teeth to keep himself from losing control of his simmering anger. The dragon hated how Laxus was using a superior tone. “I’ll have to figure out another way to safely separate them. I don’t know more than the rudimentary stuff about Celestial Magic so it’s going to take me some time to come up with a working plan. I’m a lot more worried about how the urn and the chains are taking so much of Blondie’s magic and life force away from her. The two draining elements may kill her if we can’t reverse at least one of these power flows.”

It was the far softer, and more thoughtful sounding continuation of Laxus words that kept Natsu from erupting in anger. It did not escape Natsu's notice that Laxus was glaring at Aquarius water jug that was spewing power toward the sky. Whatever the bigger man was thinking, Natsu could only hope that it would be the right plan to save Lucy's life.

“What do you know about what’s happening to me, Laxus?” Lucy asked.

Although Natsu caught Lucy’s newest attempt to get space between herself and Laxus, he also saw Laxus wrapping his arm firmly around her shoulders as he drug them both into a sitting position so they were facing his direction. The dragon half within Natsu giggled over Lucy’s somewhat embarrassed expression as she was given no choice but settle into Laxus’ lap. Luce hated getting bossed around and Natsu found himself anticipating the severe retaliation she would extract from Laxus hide once she was safe and healthy again.

“Stop struggling. I’m only doing this to keep you stable so quit being a pain in the ass. I have to touch you to keep my magic flow regulated, Blondie. Trying to do this without contact means I could electrocute you by accident,” Laxus complained.

Natsu’s dragon senses heard the undertone that implied Laxus was only being half truthful. He heard something that implied Laxus was enjoying the hold he had over Lucy. Not knowing why Laxus enjoyed having so much control over Lucy had Natsu's instincts writhing over the ongoing odd conditions demanded by Laxus whenever things got dicey.

Based on Laxus' slightly aroused scent, he was struggling to contain himself, and that was unusual for the older man. Natsu was aware that Laxus and his team often reeked of each other. Making matters worse, Laxus also reeked of different people whenever he returned from his short term vanishing acts. So if Laxus was interested in adding Lucy to his conquests, perhaps it made more sense that he was always adding conditions. Yet the thought of Laxus using Lucy like he used so many others made Natsu's draconic side rumble in outrage. If Laxus truly liked Luce as more than friends, then Natsu would not be so worried if Laxus felt drawn to Luce on deeper levels.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that before you’ll open your own ears and listen, Sparky?” Lucy whacked Laxus on the outside of his thigh as she yelled at him.

“Do you really prefer getting called Cosplayer then?” Natsu heard the amusement lacing Laxus voice as he threw Bickslow’s favorite nickname in Lucy’s face.

It was becoming clear to Natsu that Laxus enjoyed making Luce mad. But why did Laxus want to anger her when they were in such a dangerous situation? What was the plan that Laxus was working on, and why did it include making Luce furious?

Lucy gave Laxus one of her meanest demonic glares and punched him in the chest. “Oh you are such an arrogant ass, Laxus Dreyer! I swear you do that to make me mad on purpose.”

Laxus smirked at Lucy. “Sorry, I can’t help picking on you in good fun, Lucy. You’re way too funny when you overreact.” Laughter was heavy in Laxus voice.

Natsu watched as Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at something behind his shoulder. Soon Lucy tried to get free of Laxus hold by leaning forward but overbalancing as Aquarius flopped forward, and the urn shifted over Lucy’s blond head. “Uhm, what’s that?”

Natsu did have to give Laxus credit when he saved Lucy from falling on her face, and even steadied her body. Once she was stable, Luce pointed at something to the side and behind him, so Natsu twisted his upper body to see what she had noticed. He was startled by the fond memory that was playing out on the edge of the garden where this place seemed to end without warning.

The happy memory inspired Natsu to leap to his feet despite the disorienting confusion he also felt. “Wow! I remember that day. Igneel was making me break boulders to teach me how to focus my fire and spirit strength into my fists. I really do miss dad. Maybe Gajeel’s dragon is right, and I’ll get to see Igneel soon.”

“Oy, Blondie, what the fuck are you doing now?” Laxus harsh tone had Natsu whipping his head back to make sure she was still safe.

“Sorry, Laxus, but Natsu’s memories aren’t the only one’s appearing. Looks like yours are also.” Lucy said as she rose onto her knees, between Laxus legs, while putting her naked breasts too close to Laxus' face for Natsu’s comfort. Frowning, Natsu struggled with another wave of annoyance from his dragon side. It was unlike Lucy to forget something like nudity, so this action felt odd to the extreme. Nothing deflected Lucy from her obsession with keeping certain parts of her body covered at all times. However, if Luce was forgetting her weird modesty obsession, it must be important. Worried that Laxus would do something he should not, Natsu’s eyes followed Lucy’s lead as she looked over Laxus shoulder.

Even though Natsu was familiar with the story of how Laxus had gotten his Slayer powers, he had never considered how horrible the process was. Natsu froze as he watched Ivan, Laxus crazy, evil, and very power mad father holding a gemstone in one hand. The maniacal look in Laxus’ father’s eyes as he was leaning closer with magic sparking upon his fingers had Natsu instinctively leaning away with a dread induced shudder as the gem got much closer to his eye.

“Why is one of my most horrible memories showing up inside Blondie’s head like this? So are Natsu’s memories for that matter. What the hell is going on? Nobody mentioned anything like this happening when I volunteered to help Blondie by sharing my power with her. Don’t recall ever reading, or hearing about any magic that has this kind of effect. What the hell did those bastards do to us?” Laxus uneasy voice hit Natsu’s ears at the same moment the image of magic was slamming into Natsu’s right eye without any way to escape the pain that suddenly throbbed through his body.

Yet there was something at play that Natsu's dragon instincts screamed was not right about the situation. If only Natsu could pinpoint what was off, he would be able to explain the problem to his teammates and help save Luce faster. He was grateful that he had not been cursed with such a cruel parent as he found his eyes sliding between Laxus, and the strange movies that should not be happening within Lucy’s mind. In fact Igneel was not in his thoughts at all when the memory of his childhood began playing. Perhaps they were not inside Lucy’s mind the way Laxus had thought. Natsu knew he was weak at recognizing different types of magic. Yet this new oddity was probably caused by some form of illusion magic.

“Are you alright, Laxus?”Lucy’s voice held real concern.

Badly shaken, Natsu discovered that the dragon magic within himself was again frozen in place, freeing him to consider what he was witnessing. ' _It_ _felt_ _like_ _the lacrima_ _was_ _magically forced into_ _my own_ _body which ma_ _kes_ _no sense._ _Maybe_ _we're_ _trapped in an illusion because_ _advanced_ _illusion magic c_ _an_ _create false sensations. What_ _i_ _s this place, and why_ _am I_ _suddenly feeling so tied into Laxus' painful experiences?_ _Is there a_ _reason_ _I might be_ _hearing things Laxus was thinking? Luce said Laxus_ _didn't speak_ _earlier, and yet here_ _I am literally_ _experiencing Laxus past as if it was_ _mine_ _._ _'_

“Fine, Blondie. Just trying to figure out what the hell is happening. I’ve never heard of magic that has so many oddities to it. Your memories are also showing up, but since I'm pretty sure we're inside your mind, I expected as much. Not like I'm going to tell anyone, or am paying too much attention to them since I do respect your privacy.” Without missing a beat, Laxus answered, although he was looking sick and pale.

“I’ve heard that some branches of ancient magic had really strange side effects. It was the side effects that convinced Mages to stop using it in the long run,” Lucy answered with a shrug.

It seemed that she wanted to help Laxus to feel better as far as Natsu could tell. Running his hand through his spiky hair, Natsu felt he had a far better understanding of Laxus, especially his moodiness as the pain from said memory started to fade. A glance behind the other Slayer showed that Laxus had a lot of unpleasant memories that were speeding across the dome. Natsu was suddenly grateful that he was stuck with very powerful dragon magic instincts instead of getting abused as Laxus had been during his childhood.

_'Laxus needs us a lot. Maybe that's why he's a jerk to Luce all the time. If he doesn't know how to be nice, and Luce is the nicest person around . . . it could be that he wants help, and can't figure out how to ask. Maybe he's afraid of being hurt even worse.'_

“Could be. Considering it seems we are dealing with real Fairies and they have been extinct for a long time, I can only guess that their magic has an adverse effect on humans at this point.” Laxus pointed out as his expression became more focused, his jaw clenching.

Natsu found himself paying closer attention to his team's memories, and Lucy's were almost as sad, if nowhere near as sadistic as Laxus' own. Watching as Lucy tried to get anyone around her to pay attention to her after her mother died tore at Natsu's heart. Seeing his best friend calling out Aquarius every time she had any magical reserves built up so she had someone to talk to increased the sense of desolation that clung to Natsu's fringe awareness as he alternated his attention between both sets of memories.

“Then why did you and Natsu volunteer to get stuck inside my mind like this?” Lucy demanded with a stern tone that jerked Natsu's attention back to them both. It did not escape Natsu's notice that Lucy had a very worried expression marring her features.

“I’ve already told you that we’re keeping you alive while the rest of our Guild figures out how to save you. Fairy Tail Mages don’t abandon our own when they’re in trouble and you damned well know it, Blondie.” Laxus growled the familiar refrain of Fairy Tail’s values which actually gave Natsu a reason to smile.

“He's right, Luce. At least we know why Laxus acts like a jerk now. Looks like he had a worse childhood than we did by a lot.” Natsu was quick to add.

Laxus gave a distracted looking nod as his eyes darted around the odd little dome like world they were all stuck within together. Seeing that Laxus seemed to be watching the memories that were floating in the makeshift sky, Natsu thought it was a hint that they all needed to pay attention to what was happening. Yet the longer Natsu watched Laxus and Lucy's lives play out, the odder he felt. The most surprising, and uncomfortable thing about Laxus' memories was when they took an abrupt turn into directions Natsu had never considered pursuing with anyone.

_'_ _**If only we weren’t in the middle of this crisis I would so be enjoying this to the fullest right now. I’d be doing all sorts of delightful things to make Blondie scream in pleasure instead of suffering in agony.'** _ Having shifted his gaze to Laxus the moment he heard the man's voice, Natsu understood that somehow he was hearing Laxus' thoughts because the older man's lips remained in the tight lipped line that was the Lightning Mage's trademark scowl. _**'None of my fantasies came close to the reality of getting to hold Lucy like this. We aren’t even doing any of the things I really want to do with her and I’m damn near losing my self control. Too bad she’s in so much danger of dying. I'm going to find a way to save her and convince her to pick me once we get out of here. Might even give Natsu a rocking time despite how much he annoys me now that I am getting a handle on why he's obnoxious. If he can't control the beast nature that he's got, I can't really resent his crazy need to fight around the clock. It would suck to have that much pressure building up and spilling over from his magic. Given time I bet Freed and I could find a solution in the guild library. Think its time I start proving I’ve changed enough to be worthy of a real chance by killing those fucking bastards who did this to us the moment this is over and done.’** _

It did not take much to realize Laxus was thinking about himself and Luce in rather racy terms. A glance back over Laxus' shoulder showed Natsu exactly what Laxus wanted to do with Lucy. Not to mention what Laxus was quite willing to do to himself. It was startling to see that there was a playful side to the normally stoney tempered man. Seeing Laxus in playful situations where ticking, mild roughhousing, and affection were the focus felt surreal to Natsu. The biggest shock was discovering that Laxus also enjoyed sex with men. From his peripheral vision Natsu noticed that Lucy was turning beet red and squirming as Laxus sexual exploits traipsed across the sky. 

Holding down his inherent emotion driven, draconic side, everything began to click into place. Somehow Natsu was connecting into Laxus on uncomfortable levels that included sensations, so they could not be inside of Lucy's mind. The connection seemed to be getting stronger with every image flowing through this weird garden's sky. The fact that Natsu was also feeling some portion of Laxus memory charged sensations was both creepy, yet delightful. 

**'** _**For the love of God, Lucy’s going to kill me if she keeps moving that way. If only this wasn’t a life and death situation I’d show her exactly what her squirming does to a grown man. If things weren't so dangerous, I'd love to turn the tables on her and give her a reason to be squirming. She has no idea that she’s playing with fire by doing her level best to turn me on without even meaning to do it. Damn it! I’m so never going to believe the prude act ever again. Shit, I’ve gotta get her to sit still like yesterday, or I'll lose control of my damned dick. With Flame Brain being so protective of her at the moment, that'll make things a lot rougher than she can afford right now.’** _

“Look, let’s focus on how we can get rid of the chains and the Spirit that’s attached to you for now. We need to keep our priorities straight, Lucy. Same goes for you too, Natsu. Stop spacing out and let’s get things fixed on this end so we can all wake up.”

Natsu smacked his fists together with his trademark grin in place to show Laxus that he was ready to get things done. “Sure. Tell me what needs to get done and you can count on me.”

Laxus rolled his eyes at him, but Natsu did not mind the familiar mild annoyance contained in Laxus' look. They both understood that Lucy was in trouble and they needed to work together to get her safe. Although his dragon was still a bit surly, Natsu knew that so long as he did not have to figure out the plan, then he could restrain the irritation he felt. His dragon half was always calmer when he was around Lucy, so that knowledge gave Natsu extra reasons to trust Laxus to figure out the steps. Natsu did not mind following the older Slayer’s lead so long as Lucy benefited.


	12. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail Cannon characters. Hope everyone likes this new installment. ~~~ooo0ooo~~~ separates 2 POV’s and scenes.

CHAPTER 11

Staring at the dark stone throne sitting in the middle of a cave, Ikaruga wondered what her clients thought to achieve. As a member of Death’s Head Caucus, it was not unusual to get hired to assassinate someone. However, of all the places she had met clients, this was the first time she met someone in a weird cave that made her skin crawl with a vast quantity of dark magic buildup vibrating from the very walls surrounding them. To make matters worse, the torch lighting was abysmal. Such poor light quality implied the group wanting to hire her seemed too cheap to insure they could see where they were going. The silent, robe shrouded, mask wearing crowd was nothing short of stupid looking in Ikaruga’s opinion. It was as if the client thought to intimidate her, and Ikaruga was almost amused. The most intimidating people put on the friendly act, so this menacing ploy was a complete failure.

If they wanted someone dead, that was perfect since killing was Ikaruga’s forte. Still, she thought it was rather asinine of the client to try playing games with her. Little bothered her beyond the fleeting moments where she recalled her battle with Erza Scarlet, and the painful reality of losing to Titania. All of her old team had lost to Fairy Tail Mages. Now that Ikaruga had found new talent, she had no reason to worry about that guild ever again. Getting stronger was part of the trade, and Ikaruga had gotten far stronger in the years since she last tasted humiliation. Having escaped the Tower of Heaven, Ikaruga had vowed to be the best, and now felt she had earned the title.

Another group of weirdos entered the large natural cavern. Three of them walked to the throne area. With a wave of a hand, the one who was in charge magically lit a couple torches behind the throne and sat down. Everyone but Ikaruga prostrated themselves on the ground. “I am pleased to see you have arrived, Assassin.”

“Of course. I'm all about business after all. So care to share the details so I can get to work?” Ikaruga responded.

A weird hissing laugh escaped the shadowed man’s lips. “A very cocky attitude. Can you back your arrogance little girl?”

“Arrogance has nothing to do with this, but if you wish a demonstration, so be it.”

The shrouded man snapped his fingers. A large, muscular man was dragged into the room by four others who relied heavily upon the chains attached to their captive. A weapon was thrust into his manacle trapped hands. All of the occupants of the room backed away to make a ring as various magical seals formed to insure only Ikaruga and the captive were unprotected.

“Show me your merit, Woman.” The sibilant demand was not unexpected.

With a nod, Ikaruga watched the man, hand on her sword’s hilt. She did not bother to draw as it was not her style. The captive tried to slash at his abductors, but barrier magic prevented the blade from making contact.

“If you wish your freedom, I suggest you fight for it.” The leader of the group prodded the man into action.

Angry eyes turned to Ikaruga. The man knew how to use a sword, but did he have the necessary speed and limberness needed to be an actual challenge? A deep growl was emitted from the desperate man’s throat, followed by his lunge. In a flash, Ikaruga slipped to the side and dashed forward, sword sliding from it’s sheath, slicing deep, and returning to it’s place. A single perfected movement that few could see with their eyes. Turning once the smell of blood began to taint the air, Ikaruga enjoyed the meaty thud and the quiet gasps of some of the room’s occupants.

“I am a killer and I know how to do my job well. If not, Master would not have sent me. Death’s Head Caucus is the best for a reason.”

“True. Considering your display of prowess, I will grant you this duty on one condition. The reward is five million jewels, five hundred thousand up front for your travel and lodging expenses, and the balance when you bring me the targets.”

Ikaruga nodded her head. “So who are the targets, and what is the condition?”

The targets are two Celestial Spirit Mages, Lucy Heartfilia, of Fairy Tail guild, and Yukino Aguria of Sabertooth. However, Heartfilia is by far the most important target. Heartfilia must be brought here alive and undamaged so that I may personally see her die within fifteen days. I’ll even increase your reward for capturing and bringing both to me, but I am most interested in Heartfilia specifically.”

“Sounds amusing considering I am an assassin, not a kidnapper. Why hire someone like me if you want them to be kept alive?”

“To remove any protectors they have requires a true killer. You’re payment is to kill their prospective bodyguards, and insure that I receive the little bitches.”

“So where shall I meet you to deliver Heartfilia and Aguria once I capture them?” Ikaruga asked with savage joy rising in her breast.

Vengeance was a true bitch best served very cold. Getting the opportunity to hurt Erza Scarlet was icing on the cake. To kill the Titania, one of Heartfilia’s closest companions, made the job irresistible.

“Someone will be waiting at Hogs Head Inn, the same as this time.” A hefty bag was tossed from the dais. “As soon as you are escorted from this holy temple, child, do begin seeking the wenches. I have need of them as ingredients. You can do whatever you like to them, so long as they are alive, and still contain most of their blood.”

“Interesting. Time for me to get to work.” Ikaruga answered.

Ikaruga allowed herself to be blindfolded a second time. She lost track of the twists, turns, and echoing footfalls, yet did not care as much as she normally would about this kind of paranoid precaution. The chance to break Erza Scarlet was far to delightful to pass up. Although Ikaruga preferred to kill her targets wherever she found them, the kidnapping scenario was even sweeter because it would drive Titania into despair. Drive Titania to despair and she would make a fatal mistake while trying to find her little friend. Ikaruga began pondering the best way to steal the weak little bimbo and make Erza Scarlet taste the bitterness of despair in such a way that the sword wielding woman was meet her on her terms. Life was becoming quite delightful of late in Ikaruga’s opinion. Her silent guide spoke for the first time. “We are at the carriage. Please step up, Ikaruga san.”

With little difficulty, Ikaruga found the step and complied. Soon she was swaying and jostling as the carriage moved. Remaining calm in the face of such strange tactics had become second nature. If nothing else, the paranoid often paid higher prices for murder. It was yet another fact of life. However, Ikaruga knew this group was not the average paranoid rich person trying to kill off their stiffest competition. As Ikaruga considered the fact that this group wanted Heartfilia as an ingredient, along with Aguria, she considered the benefits of finding an abduction expert to insure the job went off without a hitch. The offer of a larger pay off if Heartfilia was in good shape was a perk that Ikaruga wanted to capitalize upon if at all possible.

~~~ooo0ooo~~~

It was not everyday that the Fiore Royal Family visited any guild, much less a Magical Guild with the notoriety of Fairy Tail. Having the pleasure of showing King Toma E. Fiore and Princess Hisui around Fairy Tail fell upon Makarov’s shoulders. With the Guild’s most destructive mages out of the way, Makarov could breathe much easier. Although Makarov hated that Natsu was unconscious within the infirmary, it was for the best. With a swelling of pride, Master Makarov watched Mirajane and Kinana outdoing themselves with the food they were laying out on long tables. Most of his children were being on their best behavior, and showing respect, another great relief. Mirajane had promised to make a feast worthy of the Royal family, their guards, and the Guild members. Makarov was ecstatic over how well she had delivered on her promise.

“You have a beautiful guild here, Makarov. Although I must say that seeing real Centaurs is most startling. I always thought they were simple folk lore to be honest.” Toma said as he watched the feast being set out in his family’s honor.

“Yes. I think everyone was rather startled when the Centaurs and genuine Fairies came through the Space Suspension Gate to help save our Celestial Spirit Mage, Lucy Heartfilia, Your Majesty. You’re very generous in your praise of our humble guild also. Now, I’m sure you must be tired from your long journey. So, please enjoy the hospitality of our Guild, and relax for a bit. After you’ve finished eating, and resting, I’ll explain everything we’ve learned about the possible crisis to come.”

“How about explaining things while we eat together. I would not be here if I did not think things were rather dangerous for my country, Makarov.” The King responded with a calm, yet commanding tone.

“Of course, Majesty. I’m here to serve in any way I can. However, I was hoping to wait until Sabertooth’s Guild Master and Celestial Mage arrive. They need to listen to what is happening. Their Celestial Spirit Mage will also be targeted by the Dark Guilds just like Lucy has been.” Makarov answered.

“I see. I was not aware that you had also invited Master Eucliffe to join us. Very well, I would still like a bit of basic information, and we can go over the in depth version once Master Sting and his Celestial Spirit Mage arrives.” Toma nodded as he took a seat at the table.

Makarov was quick to see that the Princess was also seated next to her father before bowing. “I need to get a couple people who you will also wish to speak with since they know far more than I do. They’ve actually fought the demon in question. In fact, they are also the reason I sent you the emergency message. So if you’ll excuse me for a moment.”

“By all means, please bring them over to dine with us, Master Makarov.” Toma gave his consent before turning to accept a wine glass from Mirajane.

With deceptive speed, Makarov headed toward the Ancient’s corner of the guild. Picking up a large Translation Lacrima on the way, he motioned for Loke and Vraylinish to follow him back to the impromptu banquet area. Stepping up to the table again, Makarov began introducing everyone. “Your Majesty, this is Vraylinish, the Sacred Saint, and leader of the Ancient Bane Warriors who helped stop the Abyss Lord from getting free a few days ago. Vraylinish was also one of the warriors who first helped to seal the Abyss Lord.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Lady Vraylinish.” The King intoned.

Before Makarov could continue, Princess Hisui addressed Loke. “Why are you here, Leo sama? I don’t see Miss Lucy anywhere.”

“Lucy’s upstairs in the infirmary alongside two of Fairy Tail’s Dragon Slayers who have been magically attached to her to stabilize her life force, Your Highness. I opened my own gate so I can monitor my master’s health on behalf of the Celestial King.”

“Infirmary? I don’t recall seeing any infirmary.” The King spoke up with a frown.

Makarov interjected before things could get further sidetracked. “Ah, well, Majesty, the healers won’t allow anyone to enter the room. One of the Ancients and our Guild’s strongest telpath, Warren Rocko, are working on a mental link to determine how our three companions are faring so we all have a better idea of how long until they awaken.”

Princess Hisui and the King both nodded their understanding. “Please have a seat and join us. We have much to discuss.” Toma waved to the bench beside his position.

After they were all seated with the rest of the Royal family’s guards filling the next table over, Makarov nodded and Kinana and Mirajane set plates in front of everyone. Once they were finished setting down food laden dishes, and the King had thanked Fairy Tail’s twin servers, Makarov started to speak in a somber, yet clear voice. “We learned about a curse that was lain on specific bloodlines who are decedents of Star Singers. Several of us witnessed the curse first hand three days ago, Your Majesty. The curse is doing all it possibly can to kill our Lucy Heartfilia.”

“So your message said. I also understand that you’ve had dragons visiting you. Is this correct?” The King asked as he cut off a bite of meat.

“Yes, Majesty. Gajeel’s dragon, Metalicana, brought us the initial warning, and used his magic to slow the curse on Lucy until the Ancients could arrive. He and Ancient Queen Sertatsie are staying near Natsu Dragneel’s place since it has a large field for them to nest in. Unfortunately, someone attacked Lucy using a spell we’ve never imagined could exist. It was a foul spell meant to rip Lucy apart physically, and failing to kill her body, it would rip her soul from her body to kill her that way. It came far to close to succeeding. If not for Natsu and my Grandson agreeing to be the two shoring up her life force, Lucy would be dead and the Abyss Lord would be free right now.”

“Why are you so certain that Lucy Heartfilia is the key to it’s release?” Princess Hisui asked.

Vraylinish snorted and thumped her hands on the heavy wooden table top. “The woman has five Astral Star Chains connected to her soul seat. She is the second strongest Star Singer ever born to the Orion lineage. The She Wolf is a Star Stormer so the strongest. No human should be able to sustain and repair that many chains with instinctive magic, but that woman has been maintaining multiple Astral Chains throughout her life. The fact that she has always been able to summon any spirits at all means in truth the woman is probably stronger than myself, and that is saying something since I’ve broken mountains down to their foundations during battles with demons.”

Loke nodded, and began speaking in a thoughtful tone. “True. The thing that confuses me is why Metalicana and Sertatsie are so worried about Princess Hisui the way they are. Princess Hisui doesn’t have a single Celestial Spirit contract. She specializes in making objects that can support us, but has never once opened a gate.”

Makarov watched as Vraylinish glared at the Celestial Spirit. “Senility has set in because of being so ancient, hasn’t it, Reagaltiel?”

The furious glare Loke shot the woman did not escape Makarov’s notice. “I’m Loke. Reagaltiel died that day. Just because the Star Phoenix decided to make me look like him doesn’t mean I’m the same person, Sacred Saint.”

“Then why has it not yet crossed your mind that she might be unable to open gates because of having multiple chains on her also? As I understand things from Metalicana and the other dragons that yet live, the Royal house is tied to Orion.”

The color drained from Loke’s face as her accented words slapped him. “You think she has multiple chains on her too?”

“Most likely. I doubt as many as your Lucy upstairs. Three would consume the life from most very powerful mages in a matter of a few months normally. Also the chains tend to gravitate to women as they have a stronger creation facet than men magic wise.” Vraylinish answered before her lips pursed. “Only way to determine if she does have multiple chains is to have Zayden and Skuhldra reveal them.”

“No way are you letting that little Fairy bitch anywhere near the Royal Family. She can’t be trusted and you know it.” Loke snarled coming halfway off his bench seat.

“You seem to forget that I’m the one Skuhldra fears most. I’m capable of ripping her wings off and she knows I won’t hesitate if she screws up.” Vraylinish answered with a blood thirsty smile.

The King coughed a couple of times and took a drink from his glass. “Good heavens. Why ever would you say something like that about your own allies, my Lady?”

“Because, it would be the perfect payback for her since she ripped my wings off my back when I was a small child. Fairy Wings allow pure bloods or half breeds like myself to absorb energy from our surroundings. In other words, immortal as they are, rip their wings off and you cripple a fair amount of their power, Fiore King.” Vraylinish spoke the brutal words with a guttural inflection.

Loke sighed as Makarov’s eyes widened over the hard toned words. The fact that the woman would contemplate such actions made Makarov uneasy. The Ancients must have lived brutal lives to be capable of such deeds Makarov realized.

Loke spoke up. “It was a standard practice thousands of years ago. The goal was to cripple the Fairy race’s power because of their immortality and overwhelming power. Only the Fairy race thought it more important to amuse themselves than to treat the other races with dignity. You could say that Fairies brought their demise upon their own heads because of how cruel they became due to their boredom.”

Princess Hisui tapped her chin. “I always thought that Fairies were tiny little beings, no larger than birds. I must admit the ones here are far larger than I ever expected. It is a shame since I have read beautiful stories of the small folk.”

“Pictasey Clan Fairies are probably the ones you have knowledge of if the knowledge concerns matters of plants and flowers. They are very small beings who love all plants and wild things. Humans were always fond of them, while bitterly despising every other Fairy Clan.” Vraylinish explained.

Makarov saw the confusion that the Royals could not hide. It was to be expected since even he had found it hard to understand three days before. If not for Loke explaining things to himself, and the Guild, Makarov knew they would still be in the same position.

Clearing his throat, Makarov spoke. “I was just as confused as yourself, Your Highness. It seems that most of the larger sized clans were considered demons. It’s a pity we have lost so much of the ancient knowledge. At least Levy Chan is learning all she can about the history we have lost from Vraylinish and her people.”

Loke chuckled. “Levy does enjoy learning all that she can.”

A weird whistling snort from the Ancient’s area had Makarov and the rest twisting to see what was happening. The Centaurs were rising to their feet and displaying mild agitation. “Is it the second group you noticed earlier?” Vraylinish demanded.

The answer was in the ancient tongue so Makarov turned to look at the frowning woman who was seated beside him. “Five are heading toward your guild, Makarov. How do you wish to proceed?”

“Hhhhmmmmm.” Makarov hummed as he considered the implications. It was possible that Sting had brought extra people with him. “Let’s wait and see if it's Sting’s group. I did warn hm that his Celestial Spirit Mage might be targeted like Lucy has been, so five mages would be a reasonable number for security reasons.”

Vraylinish nodded and made several hand gestures. The Centaurs all bowed at the waist then crossed their arms over their chests in unison as they lifted their torsos to stand tall. Not one of them returned to laying down which told Makarov that their Sacred Saint had told them to remain alert, but to act non threatening.

“I do hope it is Sabertooth’s young Master. This waiting is rather irritating if Fiore is in danger.” King Toma grumbled from his place at the head of the table. As if Mirajane had been summoned from thin air, she stepped up to the King’s side and whisked away his cleared plate. A lovely looking dessert took it’s place. Distracted by the sweet, Toma smiled. “At least I am enjoying this fine meal while we wait. You have an excellent chef, Makarov kun.”

With those words, King Toma E Fiore dug into his dessert.


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail nor make any money from this story. Did a massive overhaul of this chapter because the raw draft on FFnet stank. Adult elements were returned to this draft so I could actually “show” the situation with real clarity instead of dancing around the shock based triggers Lucy's unable to process. “Aquarius’ death” is not what the characters think because the “corpse” is not what it appears. The conundrum will get explained in time. The characters don’t know the truth yet and this story is grounded in character perspectives. Consider it a twist that promotes angsty hijinks and completely wrong conclusions.

CHAPTER 12

 

_'How long has it been since we laid down in this odd gazebo that appeared out of nowhere? At least the roof blocks part of Laxus' past sex-capades so I'm not seeing everything he's done with Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow, and even Cana and Mira now. I can't believe how much of a horn dog Laxus is. To say he's loose with his morality is a major understatement. Hate to admit it but his memories explain why all of my attempts to use sex appeal were complete failures. Laxus said I have to stay in his arms so he wont zap me to help keep me stable, but his boy bits are rubbing against my shin. Don't think about it. Ignore it. Bad, Lucy!'_

“Relax, Blondie. If you don't stretch out soon, you'll get cramps at this rate. I'm not going to do a damned thing to you with my boner. Can't help that I'm a real man and appreciate sexy bodies. Doesn't mean I'm going to force you into anything.” Laxus rasped without warning.

“I didn't say you were.” Lucy grumbled as she drew her knees tighter to her chest, hand clenching around her bicep.

“Sure could of fooled us with how you're curled in on yourself. Not that it would do any good if Natsu and I were that kind of lowlife scum. Or maybe it's you that you don't trust? Hm?” Laxus taunted, his muscular chest vibrating with amusement.

Laxus had yet to hand her over to Natsu at all as she thought would be the case once her best friend's initial overflow of power stabilized. Not to say that Natsu wasn't helping but Laxus made Natsu go through him. They had a palpable power current flowing between them where their bodies touched as Natsu physically lay half on top of Laxus' left side to form an awkward human pile.

“Ever think that maybe I'm cold and trying to stay warm?” Lucy asked in a huffy tone.

“We can smell the low grade panic and something else coming off of you, Luce. And this place is too warm for you to be cold.” Natsu said.

“Not to mention you can't hide the fact that my memories turn you on while making your sense of virginal inadequacy skyrocket, Blondie. Think we both have heard enough of your thoughts to know you're mad at yourself for being intrigued and aroused by everything I've done.” Laxus added.

“Well excuse me for having standards, Jerk! Wanting my first time to mean something isn't a damned crime! I don't get your mindset at all, since it's supposed to be something special.” Lucy snapped.

Laxus chuckled which only made Lucy angrier and far more embarrassed. Between the graphic sexual memories flowing through the garden's sky, and the disembodied comments she was picking up, Lucy understood that Laxus was attracted to her body. Not that Laxus was interested in commitments or having anything special with anyone, including herself. Exclusivity would infringe upon the man's voracious drive to seek out pleasure with men and women equally.

“Oh I could make sure your first time means plenty, Blondie.”

Part of Lucy wished to vanish from this place as she came to the conclusion that she found Laxus very attractive physically despite his callous personality. Lucy was also tempted to assume she was becoming delusional due to the clinging exhaustion she was feeling. Her fertile imagination must be running away with her because of their group being collectively undressed half of her mind argued.

“Don't you dare start making assumptions. Being curious isn't the same thing as being willing, Horn Dog!” Lucy snapped.

“It isn't like Laxus can control the memories showing up in here, Luce. Would you stop freaking out already? He's not doing anything to deserve you turning scary Lucy on him.” Natsu grumbled.

In response Lucy curled even tighter into her little ball to keep her curves as concealed as possible. Making sure her feet and legs were kept firmly placed between her lady bits and Laxus' genitals as best she could. Seeing so many of Laxus' perverted memories made Lucy far too aware of how painfully ignorant she was about sex. Plenty of Laxus' sex-capades crushed her romantic fantasies gained from reading novels by revealing how raw, diverse, and primal sex really was. Not to mention the outrageous levels of embarrassment and fascination Lucy felt over seeing some of her guild mates weird sexual jaunts with Laxus. It seemed that Lucy knew nothing about any of her adopted family if a fraction of Laxus' memories were accurate.

A deep rumbling chuckle beneath her hunched shoulders reminded Lucy that Laxus' found her extreme discomfort hysterically funny. “Guess it goes to show that Blondie's content with remaining a little girl caught up in her rosy colored fantasies, Natsu. If she can't accept the reality that she's perfectly safe, there isn't much we can do for her. But, I have a sneaky suspicion that her prude act is mostly a cover because she's so turned on right now.”

To say Lucy wanted to evaporate as heat careened through her system was putting it mildly. Only a dead person would fail to be affected by Laxus Dreyer's racy memories. He was purposefully being obnoxious by calling attention to how his memories affected her body. Not that Lucy could hate him over it. Considering the unbelievable abuse his memories also revealed, his over the top sex drive was the bulk of his positive moments in life. Having a father that physically pummeled all compassion and joy out of him before he experienced sex was responsible.

Never before had Lucy felt so overwhelmed as her emotions seesawed between extremes with every 'memory' their collective presence revealed across the garden's dome. Exhaustion was eating away at what little clarity Lucy still retained, but she needed to find a solution to this situation. Getting manhandled by Laxus to keep her alive did not make things any easier when she could feel the silky yet very warm flesh of the man's arousal glide against her skin as it jumped on occasion. Then there was the growing body of evidence that the whole harassment to worm his way into her life made it clear to Lucy that Laxus held a long term attraction toward her. An attraction that he had no idea how to define.

Not for the first time, Lucy desperately wished she was dressed since having been naked with her butt cheeks in the middle of Laxus Dreyer's equally bare lap earlier made her feel like she was making things worse. The understanding that Laxus thought about her so much in sexual terms increased her jitters into borderline panic. Never mind their current quasi-sleeping arrangement. An arrangement that insured Lucy had zero possibility of actually sleeping since she was treating Laxus right side as her personal pillow while getting poked by Laxus' “joystick” as the man thought of that part of his anatomy. Lucy could not help but feel guilty, and a bit paranoid over being far too aware of Laxus and Natsu alike. After seeing so many graphic things from Laxus' racy lifestyle flashing across the garden's dome, Lucy was obsessing on how to keep her promise to her mother intact. Despite Laxus refusing to categorize his attraction to her, Lucy was becoming certain he felt more than pure lust toward her.

“Leave me alone, Pervert. I promised my mother that I'd save myself for someone who loves me, and Celestial Mages always keep their promises.” Lucy finally responded. “I can't believe you're sleeping with Evergreen, Freed, Cana, and all those strangers. Not to mention what you do for Bickslow. Bickslow of all people? How can you and your other teammates put on shows like that for him? It's despicable to put something so personal on display that way!” Everything about their current position screamed of intimacy with Laxus radiating an odd contentment and possessiveness which had Lucy seeking to keep him at arms length.

“Use the gray matter between your ears that you're so fucking proud of, Blondie. Everyone knows that magic type affects personality traits. Why would it be any different when it comes down to sexual preferences? Ever's a natural born Medusa. Fairy Magic isn't her first magic; stone eyes is. So of course she's going to find statues sexually exciting because that's what her natural magic causes her to feel.” To contradict his stinging tone, Laxus' fingers were caressing her arm in soothing circles.

“I'm not saying her tastes are a problem to me, Laxus! I think you're being a jerk to use her that way for your own pleasure! How can she agree to Bickslow watching what you do together anyway? Or Freed for that matter? How they can be so . . . so accommodating with something that should be special.” Lucy snarled as she fed her outrage to push down her improper titillation.

A wave of mixed emotions shifted into a palpable feeling backlash as Laxus fingers bit into Lucy's upper arm. Alarm skittered through Lucy's system as her arm began to ache over the bone bruising strength exerted on her skin before Laxus relaxed his grip.

“Hate to burst your deluded little girl's fantasy, Sweetheart, but we live in a world that doesn't accept my teammates' magical side effects. Ever can't get off unless her partner can remain rigidly still like a statue. I've got the muscle control that she needs to find satisfaction. How's it fair to her that very few men have that kind of discipline so she can enjoy sex? Nobody but me caters to her need to be in absolute control by assuming the position she needs to see and letting her do everything she needs to do to feel satisfied. If anything I let her use me because she's pretty sure the man she adores won't give her what she needs sexually.” Laxus growled right back.

“Maybe so, but that doesn't excuse sleeping around and treating love like some public performance, Jerk.” Lucy huffed in return.

“I enjoy sex and I'm not afraid to try new things. If it works out . . . great. If the sex sucks, I don't bother doing it again. Considering how much trouble Bickslow has controlling his magic, and his ability to see souls, I'm not going to judge his need to be a voyeur to get off, Blondie. Hell, Freed's need to be ordered around and feeling humiliated is where putting on a show got started. Freed enjoys being watched, and Bicks gets off on watching. Even Ever's willing to indulge him after a particularly hard fight where she's turned more than a dozen people into statues. They all get off on it, and I don't mind indulging their kinks. Still feels good in the end. 'Sides, not everyone on the planet is interested in romance and sappy shit when it comes to getting laid, Blondie.” Laxus quipped in a laughter laced voice that infuriated Lucy's sensibilities.

“Stupid pervert.” Lucy muttered softly.

“Your freak out's gotta be tied to your magic. I mean you gotta have a compulsion to keep promises and strong sense of loyalty if nothing else. So I guess I should cut you more slack because of your power type. Natsu and I have volatile magics so we're open to doing things that you obviously can't handle, . . . outside of your ideal commitment scenario, Blondie.” A hint of sadness colored Laxus tone as he spoke.

Natsu snickered as their eyes met. Hints of orange rippled through his eyes, pupils elongating and returning to normal so fast that Lucy doubted what she thought she'd seen. Her mind must be playing tricks on her. Did she really see orange lightning streak across split second inhuman pupils in Natsu's inky eyes? Or was she hallucinating due to bone deep weariness? It was the forth time Lucy thought she saw that happen so perhaps it was real.

Complicating things even more was Lucy's mounting suspicion that she was hearing snippets of Laxus and Natsu's thoughts beyond the real conversation moments when their lips actually moved. Thoughts that implied an actual telepathic conversation between her best friend and the current bane of Lucy's existence was happening in front of her. Making her even grouchier was the feeling of being excluded. From what Lucy was hearing, it sounded like they were thinking, if not outright talking about her behind her back. Both were synchronizing with each other on some level that Lucy could not grasp. Furthermore Natsu was changing in his behaviors to mirror a more Laxus like personality. Unlike herself, Laxus seemed better able to get Natsu to mellow out. Lucy found herself envying that kind of cooperation gaining ability which made her mood dip into a chasm. Natsu never cooperated with her a fraction of this level even under the best of circumstances.

Perhaps it was Natsu's way of showing Laxus compassion for the nightmarish beatings he endured at the hands of an obviously crazy parent? Lucy found it difficult to snap with genuine venom after witnessing so much extreme violence that consumed Laxus' childhood according to the memories flowing across the garden dome.

The most uncomfortable thing their collective memories brought to light was the stark reality of how different her childhood was to Laxus' and Natsu's. When Lucy compared her life to the two men trying to save her, she found herself feeling like a pampered primadonna that constantly blew minor problems far out of proportion. Outside of how demanding Ivan Dreyer and Jude Heartfilia acted, Lucy could scarce comprehend the existence Laxus had endured. At least Jude only snapped that she was a bother on the rare occasions he acknowledged her existence. Otherwise Lucy's existence was never ending etiquette and business training under the tutelage of the nation's finest experts.

While Laxus endured obscene physical training and violence to carve his body into the sculpted godlike physique that riveted Lucy's eyes against her better judgment, her world had consisted of non stop education to master skills that insured she was an asset a rich man would want to buy. Despite the fact her childhood was rather lonely, it was nowhere near as bad as the ill treatment Laxus suffered in his father's crazed pursuit of obscene power and strength. She was bombarded by constant tutors instructing her in all forms of proper comportment, magic control, multiple languages, mathematics, contract law, advertising, and business management after her mother died.

Only during bath time, when Lucy summoned Aquarius to talk about happier things, had Lucy found relief from her dreary studies. Then again, Aquarius had acted as a tutor while washing her hair until Lucy gained the coordination to do so for herself. Yet the Celestial Spirit's stories about the stars and her many adventures with long dead contract holders had added vibrant color to Lucy's otherwise deadening boredom and sadness. Making the fact that Aquarius was with her even in death all the more fitting and poetic to Lucy's way of thinking. Compared to what Laxus survived, Lucy had little room to grumble as her life was downright easy. She truly was the spoiled princess Laxus accused her of being when they were rebuilding the guildhall.

“Quit picking on yourself, Blondie. You aren't a primadonna by a long shot. I was wrong to say that shit.” Laxus startled Lucy from her thoughts.

“Considering what I've seen of your life, mine was easy, Laxus. Being ignored is better than being tortured. Hey, how did you know what I was thinking?” Lucy snipped at him.

“We're all hearing each others' thoughts to a point. Your emotions are the main clue as to what's going on in that pretty little head of yours. Your scent and feelings are in constant fluctuation, Blondie. Unlike you, Natsu's an open book because he trusts me. To answer your little mental tirade, yeah Ivan was a sadistic and sick bastard who convinced me that he was pounding me into a bloody wreck every day to save my life. So I didn't question his actions because I trusted him. He's my father so I thought it was grief over losing my mother to the same illness that made him be so hard on me. We have that in common too. You figure your father couldn't stand to look at you because of your mom's death. Same's true for me. Gramps knew better and kicked Ivan out once he found out how bad things were. Pissed me off at the time because I didn't get it when I was a teenaged moron.”

Laxus tightened his hand around her shoulder for several seconds. “Look, I'm sorry I was such an asshole to you when you first joined. You got treated like an object that could be sold which is as bad as getting turned into a punching bag. Coming from wealth is supposed to mean a posh lifestyle where you get everything you could ever want, not being treated like your invisible so long that life becomes so fucking cold and miserable that you want to kill yourself, Blondie.” Laxus explained.

“I made my mother a promise to find someone who loves me when I grew up, and I won't settle for less. Keeping my promise means I didn't dare kill myself since that would break the promise I made mom the day she died.” Lucy whispered as she clenched her eyes tight to prevent tears from leaking onto Laxus.

“Given an opportunity I'd show you everything you're promise is making sure you miss out on. In fact I'd make sure you couldn't do without a good fuck every single night. Wonder if you're a screamer or the super intense quiet type? Bet Natsu' d be happy to do the same considering how much he adores you. Even I'm not immune to your smiles. If only you understood how beautiful you are when you're happy!”

“Don't even think about it, Pervert! It doesn't matter what you'd like to do because I'm not going to jump into bed with you simply because you can't curb your damned libido. I'm going to save myself for a man who wants commitment because they love me enough to stay with me for a lifetime.” Lucy snarled as she tried to scoot her butt off of Laxus' hip all together.

“Reading my mind again are you?” Laxus purred into her hair which shot all new goose bumps along Lucy's skin over hearing his thoughts registered. “At least I'm honest about finding you both sexy enough to get a hard on, Blondie. Consider it a compliment because I don't get this hard for just anyone. I'd damned well make sure I rocked your worlds hard enough to make a repeat in my bed too attractive to pass up once I got through with you the first time.”

Natsu giggled, arm jerking back toward his stomach which yanked Lucy's legs fully against Laxus' lewdly twitching shaft. “Oh man, Luce . . . hehehe, I've never seen anyone, . . . snort, hahahaha, . . . turn that color before. Hehehe.”

Gritting her teeth, Lucy lunged at Natsu, despite being somewhat restrained, a fist making solid contact with his heaving shoulder and knocking him off of Laxus completely. A low tuneless whistle reached her ears a second later. “Well now I know what beet red looks like. It's got an almost purple cast to it. Looks good on you though. You should wear reddish purple clothing some time.”

Head whipping to look down at Laxus who was clearly getting an eye full of her white hot face and checking out her swaying breasts. “Shut it, Natsu. It isn't funny! And as for you, quit ogling my boobs, you Wretched Pervert!” She shrieked while poking Laxus in the chest to emphasize each word.

As Lucy’s best friend, it hurt that Natsu was laughing over Laxus making such egotistical, sexually charged promises to both of them. The flirting was getting out of hand as far as Lucy was concerned. She did not intend to get mixed up in some kind of kinky harem situation and that was all Laxus was interested in offering. Granted the pair had gone from downright bristly and snapping at each other, to a relaxed, and companionable attitude, but at this moment Lucy hated it. Gone was the happy go lucky but protective Natsu that Lucy expected to defend her honor. It felt as if Natsu was defecting on her without any warning. Granted Natsu was far calmer, and it was a nice change of pace. Yet not even physical exhaustion ever made Natsu this tractable. No. Lucy had no idea who this thoughtful, and a tad perverted, pink haired man facing her was. He certainly was not the Natsu Lucy knew.

Things would become intolerable if she let her guard down even a tiny fraction. It was high time for them to get back to the more pressing issue of her being drained to death by Aquarius and all the ice cold chains shooting out from between her boobs. The situation called for ignoring the very prominent manhood that was now poking Lucy's abdomen due to her loss of temper. High time to get everyone focused away from the distractions no matter how tired they were.

“Laxus?”

“Yeah, Blondie?” The big man's lips twitched into a lecherous smirk; powerful chest quivering with scarce controlled mirth.

Natsu scooted close enough to place his head on Laxus' opposite shoulder as Lucy shifted into a less scandalous position while collecting her thoughts. “What makes you think that Zeref is behind these weird chains? I mean, I thought he was dead at the end of the fight with Tartarus Guild. Several of us saw Natsu and Gray's accidental unison raid tear him in half.”

Expression shifting into serious contemplation, Laxus answered, “Zeref's corpse and all of his demon books vanished while our members were regrouping to tend each others injuries. Considering that Zeref is said to be cursed by a God to be immortal and forever miserable, it's plausible that the curse put him back together while everyone was distracted. If not Zeref specifically casting this crazy spell that's draining your life away, then it's probably masterminded by one of his fanatical followers. It's a long range spell, and it's powerful enough to require several S class mages to cast it. The only mage I know for certain who can draw the number of needed S class dark mages together would be Zeref.”

Lucy considered the implications of what Laxus was saying even as she recalled how Zeref spoke to her before Acnologia attacked. His comment about her not being strong enough yet flared through her mind. “I’m sorry that I always bring trouble to everyone in the guild. Sometimes I wonder if I even deserve . . .”

Natsu snapped, “Knock it off, Luce. Nobody feels that way about you. Zeref was wrong about you. So forget about how he insulted you and me both back on Tenrou. If anything, we get to show you how much you mean to us whenever you get into trouble. Bad people always want to hurt the best people because they’re stupid. Dark Guilds are the worst and you’re the best so that'll always happen to you. You don't deserve it but Igneel always said that evil tries to destroy the purest light simply because it hates anything good or just in the world.”

“He’s right, Blondie. You know everyone thinks of you as Fairy Tail’s light. Everyone’s pissed off because you've gotten hurt with this attack. Your spirits even showed up on their own and got their hands on these damned chains none of us can touch. We had quite the tug of war going as everyone fought to keep you from being sucked into that damned void spell. When backup arrived and broke the spell, Natsu and I volunteered to keep you stable so everyone can focus on how to heal you. You’re very important to everyone in Fairy Tail, so don’t forget it, Blondie.”

Lucy sighed. “Thanks, guys. I just feel horrible that you’ve gotten drawn into another mess because of me. Maybe I’m jinxed? Can’t believe I have the nickname of Lucky Lucy since all I ever bring is bad luck to everyone around me.”

“Look, Blondie, the Dark Guilds think you’re the most dangerous light magic mage around. Trust me when I say that's one hell of a compliment. They target you because they obviously fear you more than they do me, Metal Head, or Fire Breath. Using your very rare magic power is always part of their plans. They don't bother with Sabertooth's Spirit Mage so that means you're uniquely powerful. When you put the facts together, it means you are highly sought by all the wrong people because you are the pinnacle power. Besides, idiots attacking you keeps the rest of us from getting bored if that makes you feel any better.”

“Oh yeah, . . . makes me feel so much better, . . . Not! So, if I’m so powerful, why do I always need rescuing, Sparky?” Lucy snipped in return.

Laxus snickered. “Probably because you haven’t been taught much about physical or magical combat. Feisty as you are, a lack of real skill also plays into the enemy viewing you as an easy target. From what Loke said, your spirits are some kind of literal chains that keep this Abyss Lord trapped in the Celestial Realm. As many keys as you have, Dark mages probably assume you're the ultra rare key to unlocking the fucking demon that they all want to control. Someone in ancient times attached all the zodiac spirit bloodlines to the same prison as the original spirits who volunteered to become the literal chains. They thought doing something like that would make the prison stronger. The newcomers all called you a Star Singer and pegged you as being part of the Orion bloodline. I’ve already told you that part, Blondie.”

“If we can figure out how to get Luce free from these damned chains coming out of her chest, then she’ll be ignored by the Dark Guilds. Won't she, Laxus?”

“Not sure, but it's worth researching. The bigger problem we have to solve right now is removing this spirit carcass while keeping Blondie alive since it's draining almost as much of her life force as the chains. Everyone in Fairy Tail is searching for a solution to the chains. Like I said before, this is a complicated situation, and we don’t comprehend a fraction of it.” Laxus lectured Natsu.

Keeping her arms crossed over her breasts, Lucy frowned as she watched Laxus hand pass through the chains yet again when he reached forward. Following the path of the pulsing chains, her eyes moved toward the garden's fountain. At a glance the chains looked very real, but each time Natsu or Laxus tried to touch them their hands passed through them like the chains were an empty illusion. However, the painful aching tug Lucy experienced near her heart proved they existed. Out of all of them, only she could touch the excruciatingly cold chains. It hurt so much that Lucy avoided making skin contact.

“Then figure out how to get Aquarius off of Luce's back already, Laxus! You said not to use my fire to burn them apart 'cause it would hurt Luce, and brute strength doesn’t work!” Natsu grumbled.

“Don't act like we haven't been trying to find a solution all this time because you know damned well we've been discussing it nonstop. My lightning's damned near as dangerous as your flames no matter how refined my control. One wrong move and we could kill Blondie! Wish Freed was here because it would be a hell of a lot easier to find a working solution since he knows the basics of just about every kind of magic that exists. Two years ago he found a way to stop a demonic possession with his runes. If anyone knows how to get rid of this corpse, it’s probably Freed. But we got no way to contact him. Wish I'd thought to tell Warren to keep a fix on us before we wound up here.”

“Levi’s like that too. Give her an hour and a library and she can solve any kind of crisis.” Lucy added.

“So we can’t help Luce without talking to them? If that’s the case then I should try to break out again. Don’t you think?” Natsu butted in with an exasperated tone.

Laxus snorted as his grip tightened on Lucy's shoulders. “You've already failed to get out of here, so don't waste your power. We're trapped in here until this spell's removed by the casters. Keep in mind the Star Singer description we got from Gajeel's dragon and Loke's argument with those Fairies, Natsu. Unlike other Mages, the description they gave totally fits Blondie's power. So there's possibly a lot more to the corpse than we've figured out. Either way, the casters said they had to get these chains off of Blondie. When we start seeing the chains break, we'll know we're going to get out of here either way.”

Lucy gnawed on her lower lip for several moments as she contemplated Laxus' comments. “So let's go over everything from the top again and see if we can jog loose anything new about my magic that could help separate me and Aquarius, Laxus. From what you've told us about these star singers, you've got more of an idea of how they work than myself. Outside of Urano Metria, I haven't seen any spells like the one you described to shut down the black hole that was sucking us off the ground.”

“It was super powerful and reminded me of your spell because it had planets and stars. But the difference was how everything was swirling around in a big ol circle over the weird women's heads. Wish you could'a seen it 'cause I know you could cast it, Luce.” Natsu piped in with a toothy grin.

“I know she could use that spell too. It's impressive enough to knock everyone on their asses, including that giant samurai warrior spirit and Gramps.” Laxus muttered in an absent tone. “Zeref systematically exterminated the mortal decedents of the zodiac who imprisoned the Abyss Lord demon. Since the fairies believe she's a Star Singer class Celestial Mage such as Zeref has a history of murdering, we've got to protect Blondie a lot better than we have been. Gotta make sure we protect her around the clock until we can get rid of the Abyss Lord permanently. If the demon Zeref wants to control is dead, then he won't go after Blondie any longer.”

Lucy felt prickles of pain gathering behind her vision. Her eyes were already swollen from all the tears she had cried that it physically hurt to take another nose dive toward tears. “Maybe if I die, all the problems I cause everyone in the Guild will go away so nobody has to babysit me any longer.”

Laxus lifted an arm and flicked Lucy on the forehead with a couple of fingers which hurt even worse than her burning eyes. “Wrong thing to say, Blondie! Your death unlocks the demon’s cage. That demon could kill some of us. Whichever Dark Guild is behind this, they won’t stop with killing you. Wish we had more information on the ancestral binding seal stones that were mentioned by those Fairies and old crippled dragon. Sounds like the ancestral binding stones are physical place holders for the prison in this world that link our world to the Celestial Realm. The stones are probably capable of breaking the prison too. If Zeref, or his followers have those stones, they can possibly free that demon without killing you.”

“Then how does protecting me change anything, Laxus? I really don’t see why anyone would make me into some elaborate prison key because I’m so weak compared to the rest of you.” Lucy replied while rubbing her forehead.

“Luce, you shouldn’t talk that way. Even I get what Laxus is saying. It’s like you’re the only person in the world that demon can’t handle being near, or something like that. If you die, then there isn’t anyone who can stop the demon from hurting everyone. You're a lot stronger than you think you are if that's the case.”

“Exactly my thought, Natsu. Considering these chains may be linked to the actual prison, you could very well be the one being in this world capable of stopping that demon. Might even make your magic stronger if the chains are taken off of you and others take up the slack if they are siphoning your power to fix that prison. It's the corpse that's the real problem because of the power it's draining away.”

“I wonder if I could eat the power coming out of Aquarius' jug.” Natsu muttered as he bounded to his feet.

“The fuck did you say?” Laxus snarled as Natsu vanished from Lucy's sight. Lucy heard the telltale sound of Natsu's magical inhaling. The sound of spluttering, hacking and a disgruntled choke followed. “Did you really think that would fucking work? Lightning at least has a fire like property that makes it somewhat eatable for you, Idiot. Blondie's magic is totally unrelated.”

A green tinged, pained looking Natsu slunk back down beside them, arms wrapped over his stomach. “It was worth a shot. We've tried just about everything else to save Luce.”

“Killing yourself won't help Blondie. We know these chains somehow help to repair the prison by stealing Blondie's magic. The purity of her magic is probably excruciatingly painful to the demon to touch. Lacrimas can't be substituted to feed power into the prison because these untouchable astral chains can't accept the energy from non living sources. The implications are pretty obvious. Something about Blondie’s power repels or outright weakens this particular demon. So even if Zeref or his followers have the stones, which it's safe to assume are the second way to release it, Blondie's still our ace to defeating it.” Laxus ticked off items one by one as he tapped Natsu's forehead.

Fed up, Lucy smacked Laxus on the chest and snapped. “I’m practically laying on top of you because you insisted on it so at least have the decency to include me in your conversation, Jerk!”

“Great. I finally get my dick to deflate and you go and jiggle the most amazing tits Fiore has to offer in my face all over again. Wish you would fucking calm down already, Blondie.”

“Why should I when you won’t even use my real name?! I’m not the only blond here either, Sparky!” Then Laxus' commentary fully registered, driving her eyes toward his groin where his manhood was indeed filling again.

Laxus rolled his eyes as he sat up partway and pushed his face into hers, noses near touching, an eyebrow quirking upward. “Get used to your nickname, Blondie. I don’t give those to just anyone, and neither does Bickslow.”

“You call Natsu a lot of things, and Bickslow has reason to hate me.” Lucy pointed out as she stared in Laxus eyes, face heating up over having given the man yet another show by accident.

“Bickslow doesn’t hate you at all. He likes to see you get feisty. Same goes for me. We like it when your backbone starts showing. Now let’s get back to the main problem. Shall we, Pink Cheeks?” Laxus answered with a leering smirk.

“Ohhhhhkay.” Lucy drew out the one word as she tried to figure out Laxus' weird revelation. “So what do you propose we do?”

“The mangled dragon said something about spares being capable of easing the magical drain on you but I’m not sure what was meant by spares. Aside from my suspicion that only specific people can do what you're doing, the damned Fairies and their crippled dragon alone know how to set up the links to the prison so we can get some of these chains off of you. It's the first step in reversing this magical deprivation sickness you've got.” Laxus reiterated in a tired sounding drone.

Natsu butted in. “Maybe Luce's spirits know how to get the chains off of her? You know Loke really hated those guys so how can we trust them with my best friend's life when one of our own members say they can't be trusted?”

“I’m sure Loke won’t let them do anything to Blondie, Natsu. He’s as obnoxious as you whenever she gets hurt. We’ve all seen his crazy stunts when she’s knocked out.” Laxus grumbled. “Wish they'd hurry up and contact us so we can tell them about the damned spirit corpse. I'm not going to lose her this way.”

Lucy was not sure how to respond, especially to the much softer muttered comment. Still, hearing Laxus say that he didn't want to lose her either was nice. Now if only the pig headed man would start using her name, maybe they could get along. Lucy felt her more stubborn side rearing it’s head. So long as Laxus insisted on calling her Blondie, she’d have to invent a really irritating nickname for him.

“Something sounds off about what you've said, Twinkle Toes. Magical deprivation sickness makes people physically ill, but they also sleep a lot. I haven’t really been sleepy so much as having loads of trouble breathing for a couple of weeks. How could magical deprivation sickness affect my breathing?”

Natsu began laughing as he murmured Laxus new nickname under his breath. Lucy was relieved to hear genuine humor from her pink haired teammate. It always worried her when Natsu was acting odd. Laxus looked ready to strangle her Lucy realized a split second later. Still, she detested being treated cavalierly, and considering the crazy situation they were in she was beyond irritated. Lucy was not going to back down when it came to forcing the stubborn Lightning Rod to use her actual name if only because it distracted her from the weird monologues that kept rising in her brain with Laxus and Natsu’s voices attached.

“The fuck? Twinkle Toes? Are you seriously looking for a spanking, Blondie?”

“Keep calling me Blondie and I’ll call you something even worse than Twinkle Toes next! You don’t deserve to be called Sparky since that implies a lot of good qualities that you don't seem to have because you treat me like I’m a brainless bimbo!” Lucy snarled, butting heads with the irritated man.

“Damn it, I’m not being disrespectful when I call you Blondie. Look, consider it my family nickname for you. Not many people get nicknames because I don't give a damn what happens to them. Nicknames are my way of saying I do give a damn. Hell, even Natsu knows it’s a compliment when I give anyone a nickname.” Laxus grumbled with an unexpected flush rising in his cheeks.

“Actually, Laxus is telling the truth about the whole nickname thing, Luce. He’s stuck with that one for you because he knows Blondie pisses you off. Flame brain and Ash breath used to get on my nerves so Laxus has always kept those as my family name of sorts.” Natsu surprised Lucy by backing Laxus.

“We’re both blond so it sounds ridiculous for Laxus to call me Blondie, Natsu. And besides, he uses your actual name a lot too.” Lucy grumbled.

“Only when he's mad enough to really kill me for the most part. Or on the rare occasions I startle him into wondering if I'm an illusion.” Natsu shot back.

“Can we get back to what’s important here?” Laxus growled as he leveled a glare at them both. Gnawing on her lower lip, Lucy thought about how silly she was being for several seconds before nodded consent.

Laxus gave her a nod in return and flopped back onto the gazebo floor. “The Fairies said you have a rare type of magic deprivation. Last I heard you have a second origin so it could be that your main magic reserves, or your second origin collapsed under the pressure of feeding the prison for several years which could change the symptoms you're experiencing. I also heard Loke say something about how all your Spirits are trying to find a cure because this is the same illness that killed your mother, Lucy.”

“Thank you for the explanation, and for saying my name. Now was saying it so unbearably horrible, Laxus?” Lucy was not certain why she needed to continue digging at Laxus but it popped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

“I’ve never thought your name was horrible and I’ve already told you why I tease you. Geeze woman, will you let it go already?” Laxus frowned.

“Sorry. I’m really cranky right now so I don’t have a sense of humor left. All I really want is to go to sleep and wake up to find out this is all a really bad dream.” Lucy admitted as her lips thinned while she looked around the area.

“No can do until we’re sure you won’t die. If I was certain you’d be okay, I’d let you sleep all you want, but we can’t risk it since as far as I know, we’re stuck in your mind, Blo. . . erm, Lucy.” The fact Laxus caught himself before he called her Blondie again cheered her a little.

If not for Natsu and Laxus trying their hardest to take care of her, Lucy had no idea how she would be faring at the moment. However, the two men were worried about her or they would not have gone to such lengths to help her.

“Fuck!” Laxus jerked as he snarled the single word, grabbing his head in one hand which almost sent Lucy careening onto the gazebo floor as his hand yanked off her hip. By reflex Lucy grabbed onto his heavily muscled side to stabilize herself. A look at the obvious pain contorting Laxus features set off alarm bells in Lucy’s head.

“Laxus, are you okay?” Lucy asked as she twisted to try and get a better look at his face. All Lucy could see clearly was gritted teeth and fast elongating canines. A moment later, Laxus began to relax although his visage still belied his severe pain. “Where are you, Warren? And why the fuck is your telepathic contact hurting so much?”

Lucy felt her eyes widen. Laxus was hearing from Warren? Hope flared in her heart. Maybe the Guild had good news to share or had found a way for them to get out of this weird little garden. Hopefully everything was getting fixed and they could all escape.

“Wait a second. Slow down, Warren. I need you to get Freed for me.”

Several moments passed as Laxus listened to whatever Warren was saying to him. Lucy wished she could hear their guild mate. Without warning Laxus posture went rigid.

“Damn it! Nothing like that is happening so tell everyone to shut the fuck up! Tell Freed that somehow Lucy’s got Aquarius’s corpse in here with her, and it’s half merged into her back. It’s dragging a shit load of her life force out of her and we’re having one hell of a hard time getting her stabilized! I need to know what we have to do to get rid of the corpse. Freed has done a couple exorcisms using his runes, and I need to know which runes will work to get them separated before she dies!”

Lucy looked over at Natsu who was staring intently at Laxus also. The fact Natsu was looking so tired stole Lucy's breath. If only she knew how to fix things and stop the drain so none of them would have to suffer.

“Stop picking on yourself, Luce. The drain happening to you isn’t your fault. Maybe Warren can give us the answers we need to help you if Laxus can tolerate the headache.”

Laxus voice interrupted before Lucy thought of a reply. “Shit! They did what?”

Watching as Laxus listened again, Lucy was not all that surprised to see obvious rage settle onto the older Mage’s features. His Lightning scar began to twitch as Lucy waited for the explosion his glare promised.

“I'll tell them when we're ready to deal with it. Get answers about this damned Spirit Corpse as fast as you can, Warren. I’ll be waiting for an answer on the corpse problem. I won’t fail to pass on the message now that I know what’s happening. I'll keep them anchored to me as best I can.”

The pain seemed to start ebbing from Laxus features after several seconds. Feeling bad for having given Laxus a hard time, Lucy shifted to straddle Laxus waist so she could massage his temples in a circular pattern. “That looked really painful. Are you okay, Laxus?”

“I will be in a minute. Seems that I’m the only one they can even reach telepathically. It took Warren getting a serious power boost from one of the more powerful Ancients to make it work. We're all getting too drained for safety. Warren said they think you’ve gone overboard in sharing your magic with Lucy, Natsu. They said you need to pull back for a little while if possible.”

“I’m not going to abandon you or Luce when I'm needed! I don’t care if I am tired. Luce needs my energy so I’m going to keep giving it to her!”

“Shut up and listen to what Warren told me before you throw a tantrum, Ash Breath. You're body's going into a deep coma in the guild's infirmary. Blondie's already in a deep coma. It's why Warren can't reach either of you using his telepathy. Wendy and several other healers are trying to keep your heart beating so you need to take a short break before you die on us. If you die because you won't stop forcing yourself to give more energy than you can afford to share, you'll doom both of us to death if what Warren said is true.”

“What do you mean by Natsu could doom us all to death, Laxus? Why can't they simply pull him back into his body and send someone else in for that matter?” Lucy demanded as she gripped his spiky blond hair to force him to meet her gaze.

“Seems there’s also a side effect we weren’t told about when we both volunteered to keep you alive, Blondie.” Laxus answered with a twist to his lips and dry tone that warned Lucy she was not going to like whatever he revealed.

Biting her lip, Lucy waited for the man to continue speaking while she focused on relieving his throbbing skull with her fingers.

“Well?” Natsu asked.

“Seems those Fairies used a spell called Soul Binding on us. They actually punched chunks of our souls out of us and replaced them with chunks of her soul and each others to create an even trade of soul parts. In short, they merged our actual lives with each other. So it appears we're now well and truly stuck with each other for the foreseeable future. And that doesn't even cover the symptoms we'll be experiencing as the merge becomes permanent from what Warren mentioned.”

Lucy felt like she was sucker punched in the gut as Laxus words sank into her mind. Shock began to well inside as Lucy glanced at the scenes that had not stopped whirling around the garden since Laxus and Natsu began giving her their magical power to help keep her alive.

The mild concern Lucy had about the voices in her head suddenly shot to the forefront. “What kinds of symptoms are we talking about, Laxus?”

Laxus grimaced as he looked to the side. “One of the side effects is a lack of mental privacy. It explains why we keep seeing our life stories playing out around us, and can hear each others thoughts. Also, we aren’t in your head, Lucy. When the swap was made, it somehow destabilized the chains more than was expected. When they do a soul binding it creates a kind of link world which is on an astral plain level. Your soul is trying to shatter and so the Ancients want permission to try and yank a couple chains off of you. They said they don't expect all that great a chance of success at this point, but if they wait too long, your survival rate will plummet as will mine and Natsu’s now that we’ve been bound to you so tight that if we aren't careful we could become extensions of your personality or vice-verso.”

“Wait. I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying, Laxus.” Part of Lucy’s mind whirled with all sorts of possibilities, and several of them would most likely make Laxus very angry. Lucy was intrigued, if not happy about the implications of the situation if being bound together meant what it sounded like. If she was understanding Laxus' uneasy tone, the spell was something like a marriage. If that was the case then she was now married to Laxus, and Natsu although she had not been given any say in the matter. It was no different from what her father had planned for her aside from somehow meaning she had two husbands that she had not asked for in the first place. As that thought took root Lucy found herself getting very upset.

“Blondie, calm down. We’ll figure out how to fix this out after we get you on the road to recovery. It means exactly what it sounds like to you. They used some kind of super powerful spell to marry all three of us to each other without telling me or Natsu what they were doing. Not warning us or explaining what the spell was supposed to do to us all explains why Loke hates them so much. For now we need to stay focused on keeping your energy from draining away while shoring up our personalities by trying to protect our own thoughts. I’m sure Freed can come up with a plan that will reverse a lot of this once we get this spirit dealt with so the drain lessens.” Laxus spoke in a firm voice as he stared into her eyes.

Flickers of orange flashed through stormy gray orbs as Laxus stared her down for several moments. The same burnt orange hue that had been flashing through Natsu's black orbs on and off since they both arrived. Another symptom of this weird marriage situation that they found themselves trapped within. Sudden glee was rising within her, but Lucy knew it was not her own emotion.

Natsu’s voice yanked Lucy’s attention back onto her two unexpected husbands. “Does this mean Happy and I can sleep at your place without you kicking us out of your super comfy bed any more, Luce?”

Speechless due to the inability to process anything, Lucy was trapped somewhere between hysterical laughter and a flood of agony induced horror at the thought she was forcefully married to two men who drove her to the brink of rabid destruction. Leave it to Natsu to remind her of why she already spent so much time trying to refrain from ripping her hair out already. Yet she was supposedly married to a pair of men who frustrated her to her wits end without so much as being asked beforehand how she felt about such an arrangement.

The sudden feral growl that erupted from Laxus throat startled Lucy enough to whip her head back toward the larger man. “As out of control as your instincts are, I’ve figured out why you hang onto Blondie like you do. Can’t say it’s a bad strategy since she calms you down. However, once we’re all awake, you and I are going to train you to control your instincts, Flame Brain. Since we're now stuck with each other, and there's no way I'm moving out of my place, you'll both move in with me.”

Natsu’s eyes widened considerably before he began chattering. “I’ve tried a lot of things, but they don’t work, Laxus! I hate having to put all my focus on keeping them under control! If you noticed the problem, then you know there isn’t a solution!”

“I’m not going to let you screw up Blondie’s or my life because of being unable to get a firm handle on your instincts. Trying to shove them into a locked box is only making the problem worse. Getting stuck with you for the rest of my life is not something I had in my plans, Natsu. Plus Lucy stands to get hurt far worse because of this mess than either of us. I am going to beat the unholy shit out of those fucking Fairies when we wake up. For now, I’m going to do what I can to figure out how to make this work long term since none of us have any choice according to Warren.”

With every word coming from Laxus mouth as he focused on Natsu, Lucy’s mind replayed all the strange thoughts that had been spinning through her skull, mostly in Laxus’ voice. The more the soul bound situation sank in, the harder it was to escape their unexpected new reality.

With a sense of growing numbness, Lucy understood Laxus and Natsu were becoming part of her actual self on some level. If she heard their thoughts, then they heard all of hers also. If what Laxus said was true, then none of them had any secrets left from each other no matter what they might wish. The full brunt of everything implied crashed in on Lucy’s awareness like a tsunami of emotions she could not hold back. Unable to accept everything, Lucy felt her conscience collapse as darkness exploded over her, dragging her under a blanket of tormented emotions followed by blissful silence.

~~oo0oo~~


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail characters nor make any money from this story. Reviews mean a lot, as such input lets me know whether or not I am on the right track with this revision process, or whether or not people are enjoying this story at all. Please consider taking a moment to comment. [ancient language spoken]

CHAPTER 13

 

Loke hoped that the two Dragon Slayers in the infirmary with Lucy were not trying to kill each others spirit selves because of the soul bond inflicted upon all three as he sat with the Royal family, and dreaded the need to answer each question as it came. The King had finished his dessert, and Sabertooth’s twin Dragons plus Celestial Spirit Mage had arrived and were making quick work of their own food while the rest of their group waited to be drawn into the Master’s office for the real discussion about what was at stake.

Vraylinish had asked Loke earlier about how best to calm the guild’s fears. Loke had told her that communicating with the sleeping trio would do wonders for most of the guild members fury. They had devised a working plan that involved Warren Rocko, Fairy Tail’s resident telepath. Now they both waited for Warren and Shiv to complete their task of contacting the trio. Loke was anxious to discover how Lucy and the two men were doing inside their magical comas. Loke knew that so long as Fairy Tail’s resident telepath could vouch for the three being okay, most of the Guild’s fury would abate. Their situation was far too serious to waste energy on mistrust and hatred. The Abyss Lord could still escape it’s prison at any time, and such a threat had to be faced with clear heads, and unified cause.

Flashes of Loke’s recurring nightmare tried to surface but Loke slammed a mental door on the vivid scenery of carnage. It was possible that something could go wrong. Loke realized that more was at stake than saving Lucy’s life. Makarov was doing his best to deflect King Toma’s impatience so that Sting, Rogue, and Yukino could finish eating. However, Loke could tell that the monarch of Fiore was not going to be delayed by common courtesyfor long.

As if his thought had reached the man, Toma began speaking. “Celestial Spirit Leo, would you be so kind as to explain what you recall of your last fight with this Abyss Lord?”

Despite his own pain, Loke knew it best to divulge the information where all of Fairy Tail could hear the long hidden truth. “Certainly, Your Majesty. First of all, I should provide you with a bit of the history that was concealed by order of the Celestial Spirit King.”

“Why would your King want to conceal your history?” Makarov demanded.

“You must understand that all of the Ecliptic Zodiac Spirits have soul cores that were formed from very powerful Star Singers, meaning humans . . . Star Singer class. Constellation Temple Priests committed suicide roughly five thousand years ago to seal Abyss Lord away. Star Singers are rare humans who can tap power directly from specific stars that have the right resonance frequencies. In the case of those of us who became Zodiacs, the ability was so abnormally strong that the uncontrollable magic was actually life threatening even before we did the summoning spell.”

Princess Hisui looked stunned. “Are you saying that you, the leader of the Zodiac Celestial Spirits, were once human?”

“All Star Singers are human. All the powerful Celestial Spirits were created from multiple souls of Star Singers. In several instances, the human soul core of a Highest and Holiest got mixed with non human soul and spirit elements to create several of the Celestial Spirits. However, because we are no longer human, our power is curbed or expanded based upon our various Master’s aptitudes and magical strength. You could say it is a fail safe to insure that the bulk of our power remains firmly attached to maintaining the astral prison that we sacrificed everything to create so long ago. A rare Celestial Spirit Mage like Lucy can actively grant us access to a larger share of the star power that we are entrenched in for all eternity. The Zodiac plus a few other spirits are the essence of The Chains of Binding. To put it simply, every Zodiac Spirit is a mixture of multiple humans, and non humans that died fighting the Abyss Lord when sixteen of the Star Temples joined together to summon the Star Phoenix.”

Yukino gasped, gaining Loke’s attention. Seeing that she covered her mouth, tears coursing down her cheeks, but gave no sign of speaking, Loke continued his story.

“The Star Temples were drawn into the fight with Abyss Lord thousands of years ago, alongside all the magical races. Without any warning the Abyss Lord broke into our realm and began erasing all life systematically, and with no real opposition. Not even the horrific powers of the Fairy races could withstand Abyss Lord. They held the greatest of all magics at the time. The unstoppable and truly immortal Fairies were slaughtered like wheat stalks mowed down with scythes. All magic was far stronger then and the fact that a massive army of magical beings with so much raw power could not stop the Abyss Lord makes this current situation all the more dangerous for the Celestial Realm and Earthland alike.”

“How so, Leo Sama?” Toma asked.

“The ability to reseal the Abyss Lord if it gets free no longer exists, Your Majesty. This world no longer has several hundred thousand magical beings with the power of dragons or greater to fuel the spell required to seal it again. Star singers are almost extinct so the needed power can’t be drawn directly from the stars either. The Star Phoenix is no more as that God died during the sealing of the Abyss Lord. Only Star singers have the actual ability to create the seal, and without enough of them combined with hundreds of other magical races to sacrifice their lives for this world, you’ve got zero chance of stopping this demon.”

Makarov slammed his beer mug onto the table top. “Are you saying Fairy Tail mages aren’t strong enough to deal with this demon, Loke?”

“Let me tell you the facts about the past, and then you can decide for yourself, Master Makarov.” Loke shot back.

“Get to it, Brat.”

“First of all, human magic was still exceedingly rare. Only two types of magic were evolving among humans, and only among those humans unfortunate enough to live in close proximity to Fairy communities. Shamans and Star Singers were the two very different types of power that existed back then. The Shamans could do small things like help plants grow and could understand medicinal properties of said plants among other things. They could understand what was going wrong in a person’s body and spirit. They could escape their bodies in trances and visit distant places at whim. On the other hand, star temple priests evolved the ability to create Astral Chains and tap actual star power which was far more dangerous magically speaking, and a lot more impressive looking. The magic could be used in ways no Shaman ever dreamed of. Over time, with the Star Singer branch fusing with shamanic techniques all magic that we consider normal now got it’s original structuring. However, the vast majority of modern Mages power bases evolved from the more Shaman branch, not Star Singers. Modern magic is mostly a fusion of Star Singer ways of structuring energy that taps a Shamanic core power base. The two types of actual power are not anything alike at their cores which makes it impossible for a Shaman base power to seal away the Abyss Lord. Shamanic power draws from the astral and aura fields of a person's life force and that is why it is inefficient against the Abyss Lord's power.”

Toma rubbed his chin for several seconds as he listened. “Are you absolutely certain that modern mages can’t reseal the Abyss Lord if it breaks free, Leo?”

“Unfortunately, yes I am. . . .”

Vraylinish cut Loke off mid sentence which annoyed him. “While Shamans did help during the Abyss demon battle where ever they could, they were far too different a power base from the Star Singers who had to shoulder the brunt of the battle. Shaman power was completely ineffective because it increased the strength of the Abyss Lord demon instead of draining any power away. I had to order them to confine their power to helping heal those who could be saved, bury the recognizable chunks of those who died, and keep them away from the battlefield completely to give us even the slimmest chance of slowing the Abyss Lord’s march at all.”

Looking around the Guild’s upper and lower floors, Loke noticed that everything had become tomb level silent as he was speaking. It felt eerie to be sitting within the reputed noisiest guild in Fiore and not a single sound could be heard. With a sigh, Loke continued speaking as memories flashed and flared only to be pushed aside.

“The original Highest ranked Star Singer Priests and Priestesses with the highest magic capacity were taught a specific forbidden spell to summon the Star Phoenix if the world was ever in grave danger. It required the cooperation of multiple High Priests from every Zodiac Temple, as well as the four greater lore and ruling temples to cast it. So that meant of the forty some odd temples that existed, the highest ranked sixteen Star Temples’ strongest members had to do the summoning together with a single unified desire, or the spell would not work. Even if we had failed, everyone would die for trying to summon the Star Phoenix.”

“What do you mean everyone would die whether or not the summoning worked?” Loke did not see who yelled the question, but it was a male voice. It came from the upper level where Fairy Tail’s mages were confined to prevent fights.

“I mean exactly what I said. The condition of Summoning Star Phoenix is a fiery death that you have to endure throughout casting the spell while you’re burning alive. If you can’t handle the pain the spell fails. Star Phoenix did not want to be called out for stupid reasons so those who had touched the Phoenix’s sentience, and were given the spell, knew that was the iron clad condition attached to it. Having to stay focused while being burned alive ruins any temptation to call forth so much raw creation power unless saving the world is your only priority. The Phoenix alone held judgment of each soul’s value, and could give them a new body, or leave them dead being the second condition for the summoning.”

Makarov snapped at everyone hanging in the railing above. “Hold any questions for after we all know what we need to know, brats. You’re interrupting an important meeting.”

“Its fine, Master Makarov. In a way the question is pertinent since it should make clear how powerful the Abyss Lord actually is, and the kind of losses we can expect if it get free. Nothing the unified magical races threw at the demon worked to slow the Abyss Lord’s destruction down. The demon was impervious to all types of group and individual attacks thrown at it by the most powerful magical races. The Leo Constellation Temple’s highest ranked priest was named Reagaltiel. He set the Star Phoenix Summoning in motion because the battle was an incomprehensible slaughter of immortals and mortals alike, with little more than an occasional hesitation within the black magic funnel cloud that surrounded the Abyss Lord. Tenrou island was a continent that was larger than Fiore, and yet the Abyss Lord’s destructive power reduced a decent sized continent to a small island in roughly three and a half days. Just by visiting the area where the Star Phoenix was summoned to stop the demon, it is pretty obvious that Abyss Lord wields a power that the combined might of all the magical Ancients could not withstand alone. A genuine God died helping to seal Abyss, and that is an unbreakable fact.”

Vraylinish snorted, “Quite the understatement. I recall being there. Blood and damnation but dozens of Queen Sertatsie’s dragon followers and uncountable numbers of people from the unified races were reduced to bloody mist with a few small chunks left over every three notches of a shadow checking stick. The blood in the air was so thick we could not tell what part of the day it was before long. The death toll included the immortal Fairies who were this world’s most devastating, and dangerous powers before the Abyss Lord rendered them extinct. The last twenty six be all that was alive by the time the demon was sealed. I took them under my command to insure peace between the races would hold long enough to put this world back together.”

Loke glared at the warrior woman before continuing, “As I was saying, and the Sacred Saint also points out, nothing worked against the Abyss Lord so the Star Singers banded together and summoned the Star Phoenix. Seeing what was happening, the Star Phoenix used all of the temple priests’ astral chain connections to their stars as a foundation to create a prison out of our Astral Star Chains to confine the Abyss Lord and lock it away from this world by creating the foundation of the Celestial Realm. The many thousands who died in the battle were merged into various Celestial Spirits like myself during the process which also increased, yet also altered each variety of magic a Celestial Spirit can use. Spirits like Sagittarius obviously have a fair amount of Centaur spirits merged into the human soul core to increase the power drawing ability, and confer Centaur like powers. Do you understand so far, Your Majesty, and Highness?”

Hisui tapped her chin. “Why was this vital information not included in the Celestial Spirit Lore, Leo sama?”

“The truth had to be hidden once Zeref became the Abyss Lord’s unwilling puppet. Zeref was corrupted beyond recognition and none of us have ever figured out how it happened. He started hunting down the Star Singer lineages. We did not know at the time that there our descendents, the sixteen bloodlines correlating to our sacrifices were astrally chained to the Abyss Lord’s prison to repair the damage continuously to prevent this kind of situation from happening. In a last ditch attempt to safeguard the Celestial Spirit Mages that existed at the time, our King commanded that everyone involved with our realm be sent into hiding, and forbidden to talk about Celestial Spirits birthing at all.”

Various gasps and other shocked sounds greeted Loke’s news. It was not something that Loke liked to admit because of how badly the Celestial spirits had failed their distant relatives without even knowing about the chains being tied to them from their births. Had the Celestials known, they would have been better prepared to prevent something as dangerous as this situation.

Heaving a sigh, and rubbing a hand over his eyes, Loke continued to speak. “Even the keys for all types of Celestial Spirits who came into being at the end of the battle were hidden to try and save the rare Star Singer bloodlines. During that time, the Celestial Spirit King began elevating certain individuals who had lived and died to become new Celestial Spirits. He gave the knowledge of key making to certain human mages with talent. Such mages began making new keys. Beings like Canus Minor, or Nicora are animal soul cores instead of human soul cores as often as not, although among Nicora spirits are also those beings who abused spirits who must pay for their crimes. Most elevated beast soul cores were very loyal, loving pets who laid their lives down to save their masters. All of these things were deemed necessary to try and prevent the extinction of the Star Singers of the ruling bloodlines.”

“Yes, I know about animal souls being among the lesser keys as I am a key maker. However, I have never heard of the ruling bloodlines before.” Hisui interjected into the lecture.

“Yes, and we Zodiac Spirits owe you our eternal gratitude for helping our Mistress insure our ongoing existence when we were corrupted.” Loke responded bluntly but with genuine feeling.

Princess Hisui blushed and wagged her hand to brush off the sincere gratitude. “I’m glad you’re all doing well. Please continue with your history lesson. I’m sure it’s very important to what’s happening now.”

Loke nodded and considered what he wanted to say next. “The ruling bloodlines are the descendants of the Priests and Priestesses that sacrificed everything to summon the Star Phoenix. The Phoenix created the very first Celestial Spirits from the sixteen Astral Chained Priests who sacrificed themselves to gain knowledge and power enough to seal away the Abyss Lord. The Phoenix exhausted it’s own power and suffered irreversible corruption to create the first Celestial Spirits that are the main seal for the Abyss Lord. The ruling bloodlines include the Spirit King’s bloodline, as his is the first of three Rhodium gate keys that we are commanded to keep hidden from humanity except under extreme circumstances, plus the thirteen golden gate keys which Yukino and Lucy collectively own.”

“Wait a second. Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You Celestial Spirits are some kind of elaborate living prison for some really bad ass demon?” Sting demanded as his fist slammed down on the table top.

“Yes. The Celestial Realm is actually a type of wall around the actual prison if you must know. If Abyss Lord escapes it’s actual prison, it has to destroy the Celestial Realm to get back here. The fact that all the Zodiacs will cease to exist if Abyss breaks free means we won’t be there to help you fight.” Loke answered in a monotone voice.

“And somehow all the different priests had kids who all got turned into pieces of the prison also, but because they all got killed off, this demon is about to escape said prison and kill all life in our world?” Sting pushed on with his questioning.

[“Blood of the thrice blasted world tree, Reagaltiel! What were you fools thinking when you sealed it in such a manner? Did you not get enough misery battling it the first time? How dare you fools remain in constant peril all this time?”] Vraylinish snarled at him with furious eyes leveled on his face.

[“It had to be done the way it was to save this world’s existence. None of us regret being created from the souls who screamed for justice and their loved ones salvation, and we never will. We are not those people who you once knew so stop trying to make me into your dead lover. I keep telling you that Reagaltiel is long dead, Sacred Saint.”] Loke spat right back with equal venom.

“Uhm, can I interrupt for a moment, Master?” Warren was speaking as he hurried across the floor toward Makarov.

Loke’s eyes narrowed as he noticed that Warren looked down right pasty as Makarov twisted on the bench to face him.”What is it Warren?”

“I really need to talk to Loke for a moment if you would allow it, and it is important. Re-balancer Shiv needs to get some information about Aquarius from him.”

“Okay. How long will it take, Warren?”

“I don’t really know, Master, but it’s very important that Shiv gets her answers since it may kill Lucy san if she doesn't get answers immediately.” Warren responded while wringing his hands.

“Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two unless Shiv actually is hoping to actually meet her. Aquarius no longer has a gate to come here since her key was sacrificed to bring our Celestial Spirit King to this realm without his Rhodium key.” Loke kept his growing fear in check with difficulty as he stood up and got free of the bench.

Loke said nothing when Makarov excused himself and also followed Warren into the infirmary. Loke turned his eyes onto his mistress, laying between the two Dragon Slayers. Lucy had not moved a muscle since being deposited on the center cot. Her sense of magical presence had diminished since Loke was last in the room. Sending out his awareness, Loke realized that Natsu’s sense of presence was also dropping off a an accelerating rate.

“What the hell is going on? I thought they were stable.” Loke muttered as irritation mounted.

[“How long has the Spirit called Aquarius been dead?”] Shiv demanded.

Loke turned to look at the gangly woman with short, wildly frizzy, fawn colored hair. Her somber expression told Loke that something was very off. However, Loke could not fathom where such a question had come from because it made absolutely no sense.

[“What are you talking about? Aquarius is in the Celestial realm. Granted she’s been staying in the library and won’t come out, but that’s because she’s tearing through every drop of information available to save Lucy’s life. I’ve seen Aquarius every time I return to the Celestial Realm because she wants to know how Lucy’s doing. I give her a report right after I check in with his Majesty so that she knows we’re doing everything we can in this realm to save our Princess.”]

[The big man over there is the only one we can telepathically contact. He says that there is a corpse of Aquarius sinking into the Star Singer’s back. They need to know how to remove it because it is draining all their power at twice the rate of the five Astral Chains combined. If this continues, all three will die. We have no choice but try to teach the Star Singer how to connect to the stars directly and maintain a counter power coming into her soul because they won’t last into a new dawn at this rate. We must also begin moving the Astral Chains whether or not she has stabilized. It is the only chance we have to prevent her soul from drifting closer to Ashkaraka, the realm of the dead.] Shiv answered.

Warren scratched his head as he watched them speaking. Loke saw him frowning as he held the translation lacrima close to his and Makarov’s ears to keep track of their conversation. “Loke, I don’t get any of this. How can there be a corpse of a Celestial Spirit? I thought you guys are immortal.”

“We are immortal, Warren. I don’t understand any of this either since I know for a fact that Aquarius is alive and has been in the Celestial Library helping Crux research for a way to heal Princess ever since she got ill.” Loke answered as he lifted one of his crossed arms up and rested his chin on his knuckles and stared at Lucy’s unmoving form.

[“If this is not a corpse of your Aquarius, then what might it be, Reagaltiel?”] Shiv demanded.

[“Not sure, but I am going to find out what I can from Aquarius right quick. She’s the only one that might have an idea about why Laxus believes her corpse is sinking into Lucy’s back.”] Loke answered the sorrowful looking Fey woman.

Makarov grabbed his shoulder before he could teleport back to the Celestial Realm. “What’s going on now, Loke?”

“I’m not sure, Master Makarov. Somehow Laxus has the idea that Aquarius is dead when I know for a fact she isn’t. He’s adamant that Aquarius is sinking into Lucy’s soul, but that doesn’t make any sense. I’ve got to go back and ask Aquarius if she has any idea of what this might be since Lucy did destroy her gate key to call the Celestial Spirit King to fight the Tartarus Guild. For all I know, it might have something to do with the Gate being destroyed, but right now I can’t be certain.”

“Okay. Hurry up and get answers. I’ll get the rest of the update on how my brats are doing from Warren.” Makarov answered with an absent pat on Loke’s arm. With a nod Loke slid through his gate determined to confront Aquarius about what had happened when her key was broken to summon their King to Earthland.

~~oo0oo~~


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ancients devise a desperate plan to save Lucy and her Soul Bonded men dying in the Fairy Tail infirmary. Loke returns to the Celestial realm seeking answers to the bizarre news of Aquarius' Corpse being embedded in Lucy's back according to Warren's report. *I make no money from this story line. Mashima and companies own cannons.” New section not present in the Ffnet raw draft begins at ~~oo0oo~~ symbol.

         As Loke vanished in a flash of gold, Makarov turned his eyes to stare at Lucy’s face. Of all Makarov’s guild adopted children, Lucy was the one who brought everyone joy, and yet was harmed the most. Yet again the kindhearted woman was getting hurt simply for existing, or so it felt to Makarov. Disgusted with fate’s cruel whims and abuses which plagued Lucy, Makarov wished he knew a spell that would change how fate treated her. Sometimes Makarov found himself wondering if life itself held a vendetta against the Celestial Mage. Today was certainly shaping up to look that way.

         The only good thing that Makarov could see happening was that long held secrets were going to get revealed because of this crisis. When it came to secrets coming to light, Makarov was almost pleased by the crazy spell cast on his stubborn grandson. If anyone was capable of softening Laxus' hard wired mistrust of everyone, Makarov suspected it was Lucy. In fact, from the time Lucy joined the guild, Makarov had seen Laxus reactions to the younger woman. The subtle jabs to force Lucy to do as Laxus desired gave Makarov reason to suspect his grandson was fighting his heart. The way Laxus treated the younger woman was the main reason Makarov could not be enraged by fate’s obnoxious intervention.

         As Lucy was among his favorites, the idea of her becoming truly related to himself had a strong appeal. As his granddaughter, Lucy stood to bring out the best in Laxus, despite Laxus' stubborn streak. If even a handful of the side effects promised by the Ancients went into effect, Laxus would no longer escape settling down. With Lucy in the picture, Laxus would finish becoming a responsible adult now that he had someone relying upon him.

         As much as Makarov adored the idea of Lucy joining the Dreyer family, he also regretted that a spell was the reason. It was the worst blight of what had happened during the otherworldly battle. Knowing that Lucy would get hurt because of the consequences bothered Makarov. If only his grandson had enough sense to speak out earlier, Lucy might have chosen to date Laxus for himself. Makarov had no doubts that being given such a choice would have brought her happiness. Now, all Lucy could do was accept yet another unforeseen happenstance with her trademark, regal grace under pressure. She would feel as if her choice was stripped away, yet being who she was, Lucy would bottle up her pain and put on a brave smile. Makarov hoped that time would heal this latest wound before it led to a great deal of pain for all three.

         Natsu’s part within the crisis upset Makarov far more than the changes Laxus and Lucy would have to make. Makarov had no delusions about Natsu causing acute friction with Laxus. As rigid and unyielding as Laxus got in his obsession with controlling everything around himself, Natsu was the extreme opposite. Immaturity aside, Natsu was also the densest mage at Fairy Tail. The younger Dragon Slayer was extremely driven; even impulsive to the point of self destructive.

         It had not escaped Makarov’s notice that Lucy curbed Natsu’s more dangerous and reckless habits. It was Lucy’s compassion that influenced Natsu’s slightly better behavior. Yet Laxus would not tolerate Natsu's rambunctious behavior for long. Knowing Laxus was not patient was where the guild's greater fear continued to focus. With Laxus having such a short temper, and Natsu always needing to challenge those he viewed as stronger than himself. Therefore everyone was rightfully alarmed by the two Dragon Slayers being stuck together.

         Despite Lucy’s ability to accept and adapt to so much, Makarov feared that Natsu’s soul shard would place the most strain on Lucy’s sense of honor, and truly shatter her. Natsu was the first to proclaim Lucy was his best friend. Knowing that there was a possibility of new truths rising, Makarov feared Lucy's emotions would be torn apart trying to accommodate such extremely different male's emotions. Being caught between two powerful Dragon Slayers was not an ideal situation at the best of times, much less when the known Slayer Lore was adamant that Natsu and Laxus would kill each other to claim exclusive rights to Lucy. If only the Fairies had not added Natsu to the mix, Makarov would have bright hopes for the future.

         However, two of Fiore’s Dragon Slayers might die beside Lucy if the power drain Laxus described was not stopped in time. At least the dispassionate Ancient had managed to learn what was going on by helping Warren reach Laxus. The Ancients discussions about removing chains to keep Lucy and her new, unwitting husbands alive was not helping increase Makarov's optimism about the crisis. So little time to overcome insane odds seemed to be Fairy Tail’s long standing tradition. Laxus, Lucy, and Natsu were embroiled in a situation that redefined far too much to overcome before the sands of time ran out.

         The door to the infirmary banged against the wall which whipped Makarov around to see who was intruding. Vraylinish and King Toma E. Fiore stomped into the room. Shiv and the triad of Ancient healers were locked in conversation. The lacrima in his hand allowed Makarov to stay abreast of their debating how best to counter the unknown drain. Yet all conversations came to a screeching halt as the four mages faced the doorway.

         Glaring at the somber looking woman who had given Loke the strange report, Vraylinish demanded answers in the modern language. “What specific thing has gone amiss now, Shiv?”

         A slow, drawn out sigh preceded the fawn haired woman’s modulated response. “A very good question. Something akin to a Celestial Spirit Corpse is attached to the Star Singer’s soul core, but Star Guardian Leo swears the other Spirit is alive and well within their Celestial Realm. However, the unknown being is draining a vast amount of life force from this Star Singer. Short of dropping a couple of my Veil Chains and tapping Ashkaraka’s knowledge, I see no way, aside from trying to teach the Singer how to make and maintain an Astral Star Chain of her own, to counter the drain or all three may die before another dawn, or soon thereafter.”

         “By the thrice blasted world tree!” Vraylinish bellowed as power skated across her skin, revealing ghostly chains wrapped around her form. “Had I but known the deviltry to come I would have stopped the blasted Fairies from creating such a thrice vile curse in the name of added safety! Where did that accursed Reagaltiel pretender go? The bloody fool is needed here to explain how we can undo this mess!”

         Makarov had a strong suspicion that the Sacred Saint was very hurt that Loke continued to deny being who she thought he was. Watching the irate woman pace the length of the infirmary floor, Makarov found himself wishing that things could look brighter for everyone involved. It was always painful to watch anyone suffer such as it appeared Vraylinish was enduring. Heartbreak was one of the most tragic things to witness.

         “Loke went home to get answers from Aquarius about what happened when her gate was destroyed to bring the Celestial King to our world. Without answers, we can’t save Lucy and the others.” Makarov explained.

         The soft spoken, regulated voice of Shiv stopped Vraylinish’s pacing. [“With your permission, I can seek the correct path from the Ashkaraka knowledge base, Sacred Saint. All I need is your blessing to drop enough Veil Chains to make the required leap. The girl is already descending, so I can draw her and her bonded ones back up through the astral side if I am beneath them in the layers. It would make it easier to communicate with all three of them if I can push them back toward this realm so that their Telepath can hear them clearer.”]

         [“The power unleashed by you dropping Veil Chains will damage this man made cave. The only way to make it work is if we take all three out and away from this place because dropping any of your chains causes ground shakes.”] Vraylinish muttered darkly.

[“True, but it would give us the opportunity to discover how many paths exist. If there are several paths, the better our chance of stopping Abyss, as you well know.”] Shiv pushed frizzy caramel hair out of her eyes while speaking.

         “Are you certain that you can find a way to protect my country if we move these three?” King Toma demanded from his place lingered in the doorway. The King was listening to another translator which his servant held.

         Vraylinish was forcing her people to speak in modern language to prevent misunderstandings, but lapses were normal as the Ancients could not always articulate their thoughts in the artificially learned tongue Makarov understood. The umber haired woman was doing everything in her power to prevent additional mistakes, and the toll on her patience was showing. Getting interrupted in the middle of trying to find an alternative to death, Toma was side tracking the Ancient leader's attempt to counter a certain death scenario. As he was in the same situation with his guild, Makarov felt a strong kinship to the ancient leader who shot an irate glare at Toma.

         Vraylinish heaved a sigh and faced Toma, resigned to explain in slow modern tongue what was being debated. “Shiv is able to discover all paths that may be taken by anyone during their life. She has a very unique power which lets her descend to the realms of Judgment called Ashkaraka. Due to her unusual skill, Shiv can pull any information she requires from the foundations of Ashkaraka and create the best outcomes by laying down judgments of her own. Still, when Shiv releases any of the nine Veil Chains that bind her power, things get dangerous.”

         Makarov stared at his grandson and Lucy as he replied. “Don't like the thought of an earthquake damaging the guild, but I can’t let anyone take our guild mates out of here in this kind of condition. Why does your companion need to move these three to use her power?”

         “Shiv has to have access to the people in question to be able to open the pathways for learning their life stories and finding a good balance that will allow them to awaken.” Vraylinish explained while running her nails through her dark hair.

         King Toma spoke up before Makarov could come to terms with the strange magic that Shiv possessed. “Is it possible for your Mage to insure that the Abyss Lord won’t get free by opening these pathways . . . with magic? You did say something about her being capable of changing outcomes.”

         “Your Majesty, I must object to any more magical tampering with their lives. If the Dark Guild that attacked Lucy recently is nearby, she could be attacked again. If that happens, we will be facing the Abyss Lord without any chance of planning a viable strategy to defeat the demon.” Makarov pointed out in a stern voice.

         “Understood, and I do agree that they must be protected, Makarov. Therefore, I’m willing to pay for any damages to Magnolia and this guild if this woman’s power can keep the Abyss Lord locked away.” Toma snapped in return.

         “I’m not against trying this suggestion, but can only agree on one condition.” Makarov faced Toma as he spoke.

         “Name it, Makarov.”

         “We evacuate Magnolia so that none of the citizens get wounded if the earthquake that we’ve been warned about does occur.”

         “Done. Give me a couple of hours to get the city emptied out and additional Rune Knights in place for extra security. I’m also going to call an emergency meeting of the Guild Masters. Get ready to house them all, Makarov because this situation must not get further out of control. My nation rests in the balance, and we need to insure Fiore's security foremost.” Toma decreed with a curt nod and stepped out of the infirmary to make the arrangements.

         “You have my sincerest apologies yet again, Master Makarov. My people have brought great harm to your people without intending such to happen.” Vraylinish spoke in a drained voice.

         “Just tell me one thing . . . how dangerous will this be for my grandson and the others, Shiv, . . . Vraylinish?” Makarov demanded, unease snaking through his torso and squeezing his lungs in a vice.

         Shiv answered after several moments of deep silence. “The real danger is of being hit by breaking pieces from this place when I release the Veil Chains that steal the bulk of my power. My power allows me to remove choice from each person and force them into obedience that could also do emotional harm. Therefore, it will require some advise of what is acceptable to force upon these three before I dive into Ashkaraka’s foundation.”

         “Will this dive of yours allow you to stop the drain happening, or show us how to stop it? Or, at least discover why this is happening to our beloved Lucy?”

         “It will indeed reveal all that is at work within this crisis. If not for the very dangerous situation with Abyss Lord getting free, I would never let Shiv use such a dangerous magic. Her power has a vicious backlash that Shiv has to endure after making any judgment while in the realms of the dead.” Vraylinish growled.

         “Even so, I am willing to make the dive because the innocent should not be destroyed due to our mistakes during forgotten times, Sacred Saint. If we can change the pathways, and remove two chains at the same time, I can reverse the worst effects of the Soul Binding, and also insure these three live long lives.” Shiv spoke up with a defiant stare.

         Hearing that the somber woman changed things inside the realms of the dead which altered the world of the living made Makarov’s hackles rise as a chill swept through his body. How the realms of the dead could be used to affect the living was an unknown that worried Makarov on additional levels. Yet one thing was for certain; Shiv knew a forbidden magic that had been stamped out over the centuries. Considering all Makarov knew about ancient magic that was deemed too dangerous, he had no doubt that Shiv’s power would be added to the list once this crisis was past. King Toma E Fiore would have no option but to forbid the glum woman from every using her powers without direct supervision so long as she lived within Fiore.

         “Is it possible to make sure Natsu and Laxus don’t try to kill each other when they wake up? The Dragon Slayer lore makes it very clear that Natsu and Laxus will have no choice but to fight over Lucy because they are bound to her as mates. We need to force them to get along for Lucy’s sake.” Warren interjected.

         “I will speak to Queen Sertatsie and Metalicana about your request. If it is possible, I am sure one of them will know the correct pathway to pursue.” Shiv responded in a borderline monotone.

         “Warren, I know you want to help, but, we should keep in mind what Vraylinish said about backlash. Shiv harming herself more than absolutely necessary is not acceptable. We can find alternative ways to handle the Slayer territorial problems after they wake up.” Makarov chided the telepath.

         “But the way the Soul Bond was described makes me think that Lucy would suffer a lot. Even if he's artificially made, Laxus has a dragon lacrima in him pushing him to act like Natsu at times. If they start attacking each other . . .”

         Makarov nodded. “She shouldn’t get stuck keeping the peace between Natsu and Laxus every moment of her life. Your heart is in the right place, Warren. If there’s a way to make things easier and safer, it’s important for you to mention it.”

         “If Lucy can't stop those two from destroying parts of Magnolia because they lose their humanity, there's no telling how many people could get hurt if they get loose from whatever confinement we can ever create for them. We have no idea how many years they’ll have to live in cages or worse to protect Magnolia from their Dragon Slayer instincts, Master. Everyone in the guild is saying the same thing.”

         Makarov rubbed his face as Warren’s points hit home. Locking up Laxus and Natsu for the rest of their lives was more than he could stomach. It would only make things unbearable for Lucy to be trapped between two men incarcerated simply because they both were driven to be her husband by instincts they could not override. Warren made several brutal and valid points that Makarov hated to entertain. Fairy Tail Mages already did enough damage on missions without adding a far greater amount of strain to the Guild’s finances because of out of control Dragon Slayer instincts going haywire for several years.

         “I don’t see any way around it to be honest.”

         “Maybe the Lady's right and the dragons will know how to go about making Laxus and Natsu get along so Lucy doesn't get hurt.” Warren offered as he swiped a hand across his neck.

         Shiv gave Vraylinish a single nod, and walked toward the infirmary door. “I’m coming with you, Shiv san. I need to be sure that I understand how we can help Laxus and Natsu so that the guild can be informed once we have everything under control.” Makarov spoke while following the petite woman out of the infirmary.

~~oo0oo~~

         Furious and frightened by everything Warren had divulged, Loke broke into a flat run toward the massive palace from the Celestial Plaza where all the gates into Earthland existed. Mensa, the Table Mountain was one of the residual chunks of Earthland that the Star Phoenix had salvaged from the vast ruin of Tenrou Continent and insured that Earthland was forever part of the Celestial Realm, the same as the Celestial Realm was forever bound to the fate of Earthland. Two sides of the same coin tied forever in the same exact war to keep the greatest destroyer of all confined in a planetary sized prison for all eternity.

         Much as it infuriated Loke, Aquarius could very well be the key to saving Lucy's life. Ripping open the massive door to the main palace complex, Loke lunged through the doorway, almost knocking a couple silver key spirits over as he sprinted to the third hallway. Hurtling into it at maximum speed, Loke followed the curving hall until he reached the library's double doors. Skidding to a halt, Loke grabbed the ornate golden door handles and yanked back with all his strength to get inside faster. Barely waiting for the right door to scrape past his size, Loke was twisting into the fast expanding opening.

         “Aquarius! Get over here! I need to know what happened when you made Lucy sacrifice your key before Lucy dies!” Loke shouted as he charged into the room, lungs bellowing from his hard run.

         The Southern Cross dropped down from somewhere closer to the ceiling looking decidedly irate with him. “Keep it down, Leo sama. This is a place that require quiet.”

         Realizing from the feint tattoos that lit up beneath the spirit's skin that this was Lucy's Crux, Loke gulped in another few deep breaths as he waved the spirit closer. “Crux, I need you to start researching on ways to break a spell that gives the impression of one of us being fully attached, and trying to integrate with our key holder. Can you do that for me? We've got to break such a spell before Princess dies!”

         Crux's rheumy eyed blinking that followed had Loke's teeth grinding. Not that such a shocking question did not deserve the owlish expression. Most of the Golden Zodiac spirits were flooding into the foyer even as Loke bent over and grasped his knees, sweat pouring off his brow. The looks of concern covering their faces spoke volumes. It seemed Loke's furious diatribe as he screamed for Aquarius to come out and meet him had caught multiple spirit's ears and attention. Aries looked ready to cry as she hugged herself, head drooping. Scorpio and Aquarius came from one of the corner book case rows and headed for his direction both looking upset.

         Forcing himself to stand tall, Loke snarled at the confused looking spirit of the Water Bearer. “What happened when Lucy broke your key to create a large enough gate to allow His Majesty to enter Earthland, Aquarius? I need you to be very specific because Lucy's dying due to having your corpse trapped in her back according to her new Soul Bound mates.”

         “Whaa?” Aquarius gaped at him as if Loke had grown five heads.

         “Baby, as much as you cried when you got back here, and was blubbering about how you couldn't protect your little Urchin when she needed you, I know you care a lot more than you'll ever let on to our Master.” Scorpio pointed out as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders that sagged as Aquarius paled. “You kept blubbering about how you hoped the shield would last long enough too. Could it have something to do with what's happening to Lucy sama right now?”

         Loke's eyes narrowed as his gut knotted tighter with dread. “What shield? What's Scorpio talking about?”

         Aquarius started shaking. “I transferred a sliver of my water magic to that idiot so she could shield herself until His Majesty was able to save her and her guild mates. She was up against a demon that blew things up among others. The sliver of magic I gave her should have worn off long ago, so I don't know why anyone would think she's got a corpse of me attached to her, Leo. It wasn't meant to be permanent.”

         “Are you aware that His Majesty gave Lucy access to your power through the Star Dress spell when he arrived and shattered the spell that was killing everyone associated with Fairy Tail, Aquarius?”

         The mermaid lifted a hand and began chewing on her thumb nail while she contemplated what Loke was telling her. The other spirits were all gaping at the cranky mermaid with their jaws slackened since Aquarius never did anything more than absolutely necessary to fulfill a contract. Shoring up a key wielder was not normal for the vicious tempered spirit and that was long established fact.

         Small murmurs began to filter through as the zodiacs leaned their heads together and began whispering among their selves. Capricorn was trying to console Aries as she cried outright over the new information divulged.

         “It shouldn't have altered the shielding power I loaned her.” Aquarius finally admitted while staring at the library floor. “If she's dying because of me, I don't know what I'll do. I never wanted her harmed no matter how much I screamed at her whenever she summoned me, Leo. The only thing I could think of was to protect her as best I could so she would survive the demons attacking her. I swear that protecting her, even if I won't see her again, was all I did for her! After all the effort I put into raising her, I couldn't abandon that little idiot without ensuring she survived until our King reached her.”

         The silence that descended upon the Zodiac; all looking at Aquarius as if an imposter were among their ranks, was understandable. Learning that Aquarius had met a mortal she cared about after countless centuries on the other hand, now that was not computing for anyone, not even Capricorn from what Loke could tell. Aries wiped her eyes and walked closer to the temperamental Mermaid leaning heavily against Scorpio's shoulder.

         “Aquarius san, what spell did you use?” Aries asked gently, a hand fisted over her heart as she tilted forward to see the sad spirit woman's face.

         The murmur from Aquarius was too soft for Loke to hear but the way Aries jerked back, hands flying to cover her mouth alarmed Loke. Almost as fast as Aries jerked back, her eyes seemed to roll back in her head as she dropped like a stone in a dead feint.

         Scorpio whirled the mermaid to face him, looking unsettled. “What is Mother's Heart Wish? Why did Aries look so panicked and then feint?”

         Libra shuddered, almost knocking her scales out of her belt. “She was able to cast that? How?”

         Loke felt ripples of ever escalating terror rippling up his spine. “Why do you look like your going to be sick. Libra?”

         Capricorn shook his head. “If Aquarius used that spell and it is still active, it means Lucy Sama is actually a member of her bloodline, Leo Sama. So she is two bloodlines in a single body. It is the only explanation for why Aquarius' spell is still in effect, seeking to protect Lucy even now.”

         Loke shook his head trying to sort out what was being implied as he picked Aries up off the marble floor. “But the Fairies said that Princess is Orion lineage, which the number of chains proves. So I'm a little confused here as to what you're implying, Capricorn. Plus, I've never heard of such a spell in all my millennia of living.”

         Libra took a shaky breath and straightened her shoulders. “Mother's Heart Wish was a spell that was used back when we were all humans, Leo Sama. It was a powerful shielding spell but it requires genuine love to trigger it at all. The only condition is that the love must be with the whole of one's heart to activate it. And if our next Arbiter is also of her bloodline, it means that Aquarius' love has bound Lucy under her protection, so the spell's power has not evaporated as it would if Lucy were not related to Aquarius' human origin. The spell is still fighting to preserve her. It is Aquarius' love for Lucy, whom she raised from a young age, that looks like a corpse. It is fighting what may be a losing battle now that Abyss Lord is the enemy.”

         Loke felt his knees buckle as his thoughts slammed the various missing puzzle pieces together and came up with a clear picture of what was happening to his Master. The spell Aquarius had poured her true heart and love into was now trying to combat the Abyss Lord and Lucy was the only available power source to feed the magic requirements to shield her from being killed. An already drained and collapsing power source at that.

         Libra crouched down beside him. “We should inform His Majesty, Leo Sama. We cannot hide this from him, as it endangers both worlds.”

         Head dropping into his hands, Loke managed to nod once. The one time Aquarius actually cared about a mortal contract holder enough to make a sacrifice, and it had to end in complete disaster for everyone.


	16. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Igneel arrives in Magnolia and learns of Natsu's life threatening situation. The debate rages on and new theories and possibilities come to light.
> 
> Still don't own Fairy Tail Cannons, and I hope everyone enjoys this time line corrected and better defined draft over the original raw.

CHAPTER 15

Igneel glided upon a brisk updraft that held him suspended high above the world of humans. His wings continued to flex between full beats to maximize each current’s lift. Extending his magical senses to call his son yet again, Igneel cursed his growing impatience over the lack of response. His irritation was scarce containable as Igneel wondered why Natsu failed to answer. His connection to Natsu had not lessened over the years. Distance had never been a barrier to their communication, so that was not a plausible explanation for Natsu’s silence.

Although infrequent, Igneel never ignored any contacts Natsu initiated. Of course when Natsu called to him, Igneel found his son most needed reminders of having a dragon’s pride. Considering how often his fledgeling called out to him, especially when he was far younger, it made no sense that Natsu remained silent. The lack of response implied something was preventing Natsu from answering. So what had happened to the boy?

High above the communities of humans as Igneel remained, he knew Magnolia was the city he was fast approaching. Sensing Metalicana’s magical aura, and another dragon, Igneel wondered what had gone awry. His eagle sharp eyes saw nothing that implied any kind of destruction. Had Natsu fought Metalicana or the strange dragon that Igneel sensed and gotten knocked senseless by a hard tail thump? The lack of response from his son could only mean Natsu was badly injured, or currently lacked enough magic to answer. The thought ignited Igneel’s protective side which enhanced his anger. Whomever was to blame for Natsu not answering was going to pay for any harm done to his son.

As the anger burned through his midsection, Igneel began to dive toward Metalicana’s position intent on discovering what was amiss. Nothing added up to Igneel’s thinking. Shifting his muscles so that his sails became massive breaks, Igneel circled in tightening spirals as he closed on Metalicana and the other dragon’s position.

As expected, Metalicana’s thought reached him. ‘ _So you’ve finally arrived, Igneel. Try not to destroy anything when you get here. Things are a real mess because the Fairies have returned from their Suspended Animation and they started causing trouble within minutes of their awakening._ ’

Igneel felt his fire magic expand dangerously. All dragons knew the ancient lore about the crueler clans among the Fairy race. _‘Which clans are back, Metalicana?’_

‘ _The ones that Vraylinish chose to take under wing, Young King.’_ A not so familiar female dragon’s voice flicked through his mind.

‘ _Who are you?’_ Igneel demanded as he zoomed in on the break within the tree line where Metalicana was resting. A broken down house stood at the edge of the clearing and Natsu’s scent filtered into his nose.

‘ _Sertatsie is staying behind the magic Guild that both of our fledglings joined. She’s the one speaking, Igneel.’_ Metalicana responded as the fire dragon did a final approach to land near the other male by making a hard break with his haunches and out thrust front legs.

“So, the Ancient Queen is also here. Why do I have a very bad feeling about what news I’m going to get?” Igneel wasted no time on pleasantries as he turned his head to look at the other male and growled aloud.

Metalicana snorted. “I sensed you trying to call your fledgling, but he can’t answer due to the spell he agreed to have cast on him by the blasted Fairies.”

Igneel felt his anger writhing through his magic. “What spell did they use on my son, and why can’t he answer me?”

A mind orb flashed into the clearing and Sertatsie responded. _‘Two males are now Soul Bond_ _ed_ _to the Star Singer that I sensed_ _was dying_ _earlier. They are in a deep sleeping state as they seek to save her life_ _by shoring up her exhausted magic and life force_ _. Without both of the males sharing their life force, the female could not contain Abyss Lord any longer, Igneel._ _If she dies, we all perish as she is one of the two major locks keeping Abyss Lord in his cage._ _One of them is your_ _young_ _Dragon Slayer_ _who volunteered, actually more like he insisted with a flame covered fist to be linked to the young woman_ _. However, things have not gone smoothly because of various problems with the Orion bloodline being so close to extinction._ _'_

_'What do you mean that the Singer you sensed is one of the two main locks? Who is the other major lock, and what has gone wron_ _g exactly_ _?'_

_'The woman in question_ _wa_ _s feeding multiple chains alone up until the two Slayers voluntarily had their lives bound to hers. She was truly exhausted and her magic containers were on the verge of_ _full_ _collapse._ _She Wolf may be Fey, and have more than one Soul Bond, but their combined power is scarce able to feed the multiple chains that_ _somehow_ _attached to her during_ _our_ _time suspension._ _Nobody knows how that happened, or why none of the other bloodlines ended up with_ _their specific_ _bloodline chains except for_ _She Wolf out of our members_ _._ _As to what is going wrong, the modern Star Singer was viciously attacked by Abyss Lord and his power has both infected her, and the attempt to rip her soul from her form using her Astral Chains did real damage to her soul seat. Right now the two males Bound to her are trying to shore her soul up plus feed the insane drain happening._ _'_

Igneel snorted a stream of flame that singed a nearby tree over what he perceived to be reckless stupidity on everyone's part, including his son. Metalicana shifted into a defensive stance, but made no move to retaliate as Sertatsie continued to jabber about everything happening to Natsu and company.

_'_ _The Singer your son chose to_ _be bound_ _to has five chains on her soul core. It is a ludicrous number that should be impossible for the girl to feed,_ _even if she is Fey descended_ _. So many chains plus a direct attack by Abyss Lord_ _almost shattered_ _the young woman's soul. Another Celestial Mage of the Orion lineage has arrived, but we do not know how many chains she is struggling to feed._ _Her father likewise has a single chain, but seems to be Setheon instead of Kainon's descendant. The daughter may only have one chain, or possibly two. We do not suspect more than that as she seems healthy enough._ _One of the other_ _bloodline_ _lineages has arrived also, but only has to maintain_ _her Ancestral_ _Chain since she is not related to the Orion lineage. If only three Orion bloods still exist, plus the girl from the other lineage, these times are indeed desperate.’_

‘ _Why did the Fairies soul bind my son to the Singer instead of doing something reasonable_ _before going to such an extreme_ _?_ _For all that Natsu's bull headed, he can be directed if someone had bothered to think things through instead of making it all sound do or die level._ _If she dies, so will Natsu!’_ Igneel snarled at the Ancient.

‘ _The girl was directly attacked by Abyss Lord. Her soul core_ _was_ _fracturing as it was getting ripped from her body, Igneel. No other options were left_ _outside of allowing_ _Abyss Lord’s return if they did not soul bind her to healthy individuals of unusually high magical power. We Ancients were unable to stop Abyss before, and the Star Singers are almost extinct_ _in this era_ _. Only their unique power can seal away Abyss Lord without giving that demon added power. Only Star Singer magic stands a chance of draining the Abyss Lord. If not for your son’s acceptance of undergoing this Soul Binding, we would be facing the complete annihilation of our world right now.’_

“The male Soul Bonded first was their artificially made Dragon Slayer, Igneel. My fledgeling and most of the humans are in a panic about what is to come of their being tied to each other on top of the prison's chain bearer. In fact Gajeel is already mourning the loss of all three in his very angry way.” Metalicana informed him with a grim expression wrinkling his metallic looking shark snout.

Igneel glared at the rainbow hued thought orb hovering near his face. _'Unless the artificial Slayer is a natural alpha_ _or beta capable of assuming an alpha role_ _, your Soul Binding magic has sealed their doom,_ _and Abyss Lord's escape,_ _Ancient Queen. Dragon Slayer children are never chosen if they have Alpha tendencies due to what happened with Acnologia once he draconified. Alpha class human males were deemed far too dangerous once they reached breeding age. Acnologia proved that Alpha class humans cannot be trusted to curb their need to dominate others, and destroy without real cause beyond any doubt. Dragon instincts push Alphas to become obscenely aggressive, unlike ranks such as Delta or lesser.'_

_'The males are tied to each other by the same soul binding, and there is every reason to believe the female will be able to control both of them. It is her choice as to which male gets breeding rites when she so deems them worthy, Igneel.'_ Sertatsie snapped.

_'Why would you let what is most likely two mid ranked personalities become bonded to the same female who automatically holds a far higher rank if only because of her capacity to breed? Have you and those despicable Fairies no common sense at all?'_ Annoyance flowed through the massive red dragon’s mind.

Unless one of the two Slayers could gain the other Slayer's obedience, things would not end well even if the female was extraordinarily powerful. Beta ranked personalities were no longer chosen by dragons for Slayer training due to the fact they could evolve into Alphas with the right kind of situational push. Placed with an Alpha minded female, Delta rank was acceptable because they had lesser leadership qualities, but remained controllable when facing their dragon parents, female or no female. The thought that another Delta or lower ranked Dragon Slayer male getting pushed into competing for breeding rights with Natsu enraged Igneel.

_'What rank is your Natsu then?'_

‘ _Natsu’s a natural Lead Warrior,_ _making him a Delta rank_ _! Strong as my son is, he’ll be forced to fight the other male because of his dragon instincts. Only a_ _n alpha or beta_ _male would be able to keep both_ _of their_ _dragon instincts in check.’_

“Fighting does seem to be all that your son understands, Igneel. I should warn you that I shared vision with your fledgling when I first arrived to get unstuck from between two human buildings. He is rather different from all the other Dragon raised Slayers. In fact, your Natsu fights his instincts to the point he can barely think about anything her than controlling his impulses that are draconic.” Metalicana informed him.

_'I do not know much about the other male outside of his being considerably larger than_ _young_ _Natsu._ _So_ _I will see if I can get the answers both of you desire_ _since neither of you seem inclined to understand that they were bound to each other when they were bound to the Singer which should make it impossible for them to attack each other_ _. A couple of the Bane Warriors and the guild master are heading this way. Seems they have something to discuss with me. Perhaps you two should come here,_ _and we can get your answers out of the humans before you both lose your tempers_ _.’_ Sertatsie snapped before the orb winked out of existence.

Metalicana heaved his heavy armor plated body up and stretched. “I’m not so sure about the outcome of what has been done, Igneel. My fledgling obviously respects the big Lightning Slayer which means he is very powerful. Although I’m not certain, I did sense that Gajeel and Natsu were somewhat subservient to the bigger male’s commands when they combined their strength to save the Star Singer during the Abyss Lord's attack. However, Natsu is very reckless and unruly. He whined about every order given to him from the older Slayer he's now bound to by that foul Fairy magic.”

“Are you suggesting the other Slayer is an Alpha?”

“No idea, Igneel, but the male is considerably larger and by magic output, over twice as strong as Natsu, and Gajeel alike. Suppose I’ll show you the path I’ve made to get over there. Your fledgling's home is far enough away to prevent panic among the human population, so this is where I've been loitering when not at the guild getting updates.”

“I figured as much. It reeks of him and another being. Lead the way, Metalicana. I’ll decide what kind of punishment to hand the Fairies after I hear what these humans and Fey have to say for themselves.” Igneel grumbled as he looked over the odd little building with tree limbs sticking out in one corner.

After a final glance at his son’s home, Igneel followed Metalicana into the trees. The path was winding, but Igneel was not bothered because he had room enough to not feel trapped by encroaching trees. Before long the smell of tainted water met Igneel’s sensitive nose. The smell had an unnatural bite that Igneel did not like. Making a mental note to find better water to drink, Igneel picked up his pace as Metalicana broke through the tree line and continued to stroll closer to a large stone and wood building.

A massive, badly damaged yet pearly white hide greeted Igneel’s vision a moment later when he broke through the tree line and meandered to the left to get a better look at their surroundings. None of the lore had prepared Igneel for the vast amount of damage the Ancient Queen had taken in her life and death battle with the Abyss Lord. Considering how much power radiated off of her, Igneel knew he was no match in raw magic, but he was in good condition; unlike the broken shell that lingered on as the Creation Queen. The proof of her vast magic was shown by the grass around her having grown far taller than any of the surrounding area within a very short amount of time.

A man made miniature lake was the grass’s boundary. The artificial lake was where the bad smelling water was located Igneel realized as he swept his gaze over the area. Igneel’s gaze settled upon a small group of humans, and what looked like either a Spawn or a Bane who was keeping Sertatsie company. Metalicana was greeted by a long maned male who was showing his teeth in a human grin.

As Igneel stepped closer, Metalicana was already talking as the long haired male accompanied him the remaining steps. “Igneel is very unhappy about his fledgling being in this situation, Gajeel. As I cannot say what the artificial Slayer’s natural personality ranking may be, things will be difficult to determine. We need information on the bigger male to figure out how to prevent them from killing each other.”

The long haired male answered Metalicana after a short shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t know Laxus all that well, but he is training to be the next Guild Master, and is used to giving orders and being obeyed. Far as I'm concerned, Laxus is an arrogant asshole who has earned the right to be a dick if he wants, Dad.”

“Explain why you believe he has the right to be arrogant, Fledgeling.”

“The bastard can take on me and Natsu simultaneously and do damage to us both while holding his own. He's a monster when he's pissed off, and beating him ain't easy. Me and Salamander were bandaged head to toe after going all out against that fucking Lightning Rod to take him down, and we barely managed it.”

“Salamander? Who is that?” Igneel demanded as he stared at the dark haired son of Metalicana.

“Salamander's Natsu's mage title. I get called Black Steel by the Mage community.” Gajeel explained with a shrug.

“Anything else that proves this Laxus is as powerful as you're claiming, Fledgeling? It doesn't tell us much about the man's possible ranking considering Natsu's a Delta and you rank the exact same. A gamma should be able to put you both in your place if you get too rambunctious.” Metalicana baited his Slayer.

“During the Grand Magic Games Laxus took on his dad and Raven Tail's strongest Mage team at the same time and won without any help. A couple of the other team’s members were S class like himself. Laxus even beat one of the Wizard Saints in the Grand Magic Games tournament so we know he’s capable of unleashing one hell of a can of whoop ass whenever needed. To be honest, Natsu’s always challenging him, but Laxus knocks him out with a single punch most days.”

Igneel considered the dark haired Slayer’s words. However, it did not answer the most pressing question about the artificial Slayer’s personality. Igneel chose to speak up as he came abreast of the Iron dragon. “Our question is not how much raw fighting power this male has so much as what natural ranking does this artificial Slayer fill in dragon family hierarchy? You strike me as a Hunter or Warrior rank personality, the same as my son. And if this other Slayer is of a rank such as Delta or lower in personality, there will be no stopping them from killing each other. As a fellow Dragon Slayer you should instinctively know what the other male's natural personality ranking would be. So spit it out.”

A very short, white haired and wizened human male stepped forward and began talking before the uneasy looking Slayer could respond. “A pleasure to meet another dragon. I’m Makarov Dreyer, Guild Master of Fairy Tail, and you must be Natsu’s father, Igneel.”

Igneel extended his long neck to face the newcomer who radiated a very Alpha air. “You would be correct, Little Guild Master. At the moment, it seems we have more important things to discuss than empty pleasantries. My son’s life and others are at stake. Unless we can determine rankings of the second slayer now bound to the same female as Natsu, things could become difficult for all.”

“I take it you mean Laxus, my grandson.”

“Indeed. How did he become an artificial Slayer first of all?”

“His father, Ivan, placed a Lightning Dragon Lacrima behind his right eye when Laxus was a boy.” Makarov answered as he clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back on his heels.

Igneel dropped his nose near the ground and demanded, “Does your grandson bear a dragon made lacrima, or a Heart or Mind Gem from an actual lightning dragon?”

Makarov stepped back and rubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure. We don’t really know all that much about what my son Ivan implanted in Laxus. I’m afraid Laxus hasn’t told me much about how the gem affects him. But I suppose that’s because Laxus doesn’t have all that much trust in anyone because of his father.”

“The proof would be in how the power responds. If it is easily controlled and the male is smart, then it is safe to say it is either a Dragon Gem, or a Mind Lacrima instead of Heart stone. Dragon heart stone overwhelms the user's emotions whether it is placed in a magical item or trapped within the user’s body every time the power gets tapped.” Igneel answered as he fought down his mounting impatience with the human race's ignorance.

“Laxus must have a Mind Gem or Dragon made Lacrima then because aside from being extremely willful and cunning, he doesn’t have any problem controlling his powers that I am aware of. If anything, Laxus is emotionally closed off and awkward, but he's learning to get along with others these days.” Makarov answered with a frown on his wizened face.

“What kind of a leadership qualities does your Laxus display normally?” Igneel demanded as he stared at the short, yet powerful human.

Gajeel stepped next to Makarov and began talking. “Laxus has a lot of leadership strengths. He’s the leader of the Thunder God Tribe which is an exclusive team that only takes down Dark Guilds and the highest ranked S class missions. He takes control of ordering others into action without hesitation whenever shit hits the fan in his presence. I’ll vouch for the fact that he’s a decent leader when it counts. The main problem is his ego. Laxus can be a real prick so he isn’t exactly popular with the rest of us, Igneel sama.”

“How long ago was the implant done?”

“Well that also depends on how you view time, Igneel sama. It would be fifteen years according to Laxus' biological timing since we were suspended in Fairy Sphere for seven years. For the rest of the world, it was twenty two years ago in physical chronological timing since Laxus was implanted by his father with that stone.”

Igneel was not happy about how things were sounding. Not only was this Laxus sounding like an Alpha candidate, but the time frames added up to imply the possibility of this male being the recipient of something other than an ordinary dragon created gem. Igneel knew that the last Alpha Lightning Dragon’s tomb was raided of both the heart and mind gems roughly thirty human years ago. Laxus might have received a stolen segment of Lightning Lord Aeriolus mind. If the artificial Slayer had a chunk of the Lightning Lord’s mind fueling his considerable power, this Lightning Dragon Slayer could easily kill Natsu if he was not aware of the knowledge contained within his lacrima.

Aeriolus had been among the strongest of the elemental dragon kings, and one of the oldest when he died of old age since Acnologia could never catch the wily old scoundrel. If Laxus had a genuine chunk of a dragon's mind within his body, instead of a dragon made gem, then the man was also a true hybrid. The lacrima, if part of Aeriolus’ mind, increased the probability that if Laxus got in touch with Aeriolus’ knowledge, he would not kill Natsu, only force Natsu to accept his leadership. Either way, Natsu was going to get injured, but it was possible to prevent two Dragon Slayers from killing each other if the gem was a piece of fossilized brain from the Lightning Dragon’s tomb.

Igneel snapped his attention back to the group of humans in time to hear Metalicana speaking. “If Laxus has a piece of Aeriolus in his head, and knows how to communicate with it, then we won’t have to worry about the two Slayers fighting to the death.”

“Who’s Aeriolus, Dad?”

“The last Lightning Dragon King who died over a century ago. His tomb was raided around thirty years ago and his Mind and Heart Stones were stolen.” Metalicana told his son with a fair amount of ire in his tone.

Igneel knew what Metalicana was thinking the same thing as himself and decided it best if the possibility be explained to a point. “A Dragon Alpha would have no need to kill Natsu because of his natural personality ranking being that of a Delta ranked Warrior. Warrior ranked powers are valuable to Alphas, as are Delta ranked Hunters. Only Beta ranked personalities would get killed if your Laxus has a piece of an actual dragon’s mind fueling his magic. However, if it is only a Dragon Gem that was implanted in him, they may yet fight to the death because a Dragon Gem holds many of the instincts, and the powers, without the wisdom needed to properly control the twisting of the human level instincts because of the power of Dragon Force.”

A sad looking female suddenly stepped up beside the men who faced Igneel. “If the man named Laxus has a Dragon Gem, how should I change the pathways in Ashkaraka’s foundation knowledge to insure that he will not kill the other male when they awaken if their being Soul Bound to each other is not going to prevent this outcome? At the moment, they are holding a truce because of the Singer’s life being in jeopardy, but if all you say comes to pass, they will still kill the Singer by fighting for the right to be her mate.”

Sertatsie mind spoke for all the hear. _‘_ _Perhaps Shiv, but Igneel makes a very good point._ _If the male is a hybrid because of possessing an actual Alpha’ Dragon_ _'_ _s knowledge, all is well. If he is a purely human Alpha, things_ _may be difficult until Natsu accepts hi as his leader_ _once they awaken. The fact this Laxus is described as arrogant is troubling because it makes it more likely that he bears a Dragon Gem and not a piece of true knowledge from_ _the_ _Lightning King_ _being spoken of at this time_ _.’_

Metalicana hummed which told Igneel the Iron Dragon was thinking over the Ancient Queen’s words while staring at their human counterparts. “It is rare when we dragons form truly long term family units that include non blood related members. We prefer being loners outside of our mating cycles. It did happen, but when it involved non blood related groups, membership often changed as the mind links do wear off. Congregations were common enough.Yet this situation would force an Exaltation to form, and those are rather tricky.”

“If we were close enough to inspect the gem, we could determine whether Laxus and Natsu may be willing to form an exaltation without interference. Of course that will only be the case if Laxus has inherited one of the Lightning Lord’s Mind Lacrima segments, or is willing to learn from us about all he needs to do to control his instincts. Natsu should be easier to handle if I tell him to stop challenging for an alpha rank in order to save the girl's life if it is the one I've spoken to him about through our connection a few times.” Igneel pointed out.

Gajeel yelled without warning. “What is an exultation, and why have you never told me about them? I’ve only ever heard of congregations from you, Dad.”

“Because exaltations are very tightly woven blood heavy family units, not stag or doe groups led by an older Beta dragon who keeps young adults in line. Mated pairs usually break up when their fledglings are grown and can take care of their own needs without supervision. Still, since they tend to get into a fair amount of trouble, Alphas used to appoint Betas to control young adults. To be honest, there hasn’t been enough of us alive to require us to form any congregations for close to three hundred years, much less a deep dragon bonded mate pairing. Exaltations only happen when deeply bonded pairs cannot separate from each other and become too dependent upon each other which prompts other blood relatives to keep an eye on them and make certain the pair don't lose their selves in each other. I never had a reason to mention a larger family unit situation such as this problem might force into existence.” Metalicana responded.

Gajeel snarled. “You mentioned Dragon Mates years ago before you vanished, but never said anything about how they need to be looked after, Dad.”

“Because it is such a rare phenomena that I saw no reason to expound upon the possibility of an Exaltation ever forming again. Too few dragons exist for it to be likely. Few of our kind are still breeding age at any rate. So why would I talk about a lost family unit grouping that shouldn't even have a possible existence any longer?”

Igneel chuckled as the two butted forehead to shark shaped snout as both snarled at each other in draconic tongue to prevent the rest of the humans from understanding their fast escalating argument over the possible damages of a human based Dragon Mate situation forming and the lack of full disclosure young Gajeel felt he was entitled to have been taught long before now.

One of the odd looking humans tossed her hands into the air while pacing. “I think we need to find out what type of gem your Laxus is carrying, Master Makarov. I dare not go into Ashkaraka’s foundations to judge pathways anymore than absolutely must be done to restrain the Abyss Lord long term. I need more information before I can even begin to understand what pathways should be opened or closed.”

The tiny guild master nodded and rocked back and forth on his heels again while plucking at his face hair. “I understand your dilemma, Shiv. We’ll have to bring Laxus, Lucy, and Natsu out of the guild infirmary before you undo that veil chain spell you keep on yourself. Perhaps our Dragon Allies can figure out what kind of Lacrima Laxus contains so you can avoid doing anything dangerous for your own health. However, we need to insure we maintain very tight security in case some dark guild tries to use that as an opportunity to attack Lucy. I’m waiting for King Toma’s return since he’s the one demanding that you use such a dangerous magic to change the outcomes of anyone's fate.”

Igneel was very uneasy about how the Fey female spoke the name of the Ancient Hall of Judgment that housed the dead not yet ready to be reborn. The gods were the only ones who tread in such a place with impunity. They only entered to free souls to return to the reincarnation cycle by granting them new contracts for living. Ashkaraka was a very dangerous place for any living soul to enter, much less try to control.

Igneel lifted his massive wedged head to look at Sertatsie. “Is this little female joking? Ashkaraka is a place that only the gods can come and go without endangering their existence to the best of our knowledge.”

“Shiv is the only one we know of with the ability. In a way she has a stranger fate than the rest of us Fey have ever been cursed to endure, Lord Igneel.” The demonic hide sporting female spoke from her place on the odd wooden contraption that Sertatsie resided upon because of her badly broken form.

“So it would seem. I suppose this means you have some idea of her fate then?” Metalicana questioned.

“Shiv’s the one that the Star Phoenix cursed specifically to bear the brunt of carrying a copy of Cosmic Law within herself. We all chose to go into Time Suspension locked away from space and time until she was next needed as the Star Phoenix commanded before the corruption overcame it. Her last dive into Ashkaraka is where we learned how to make the timeless sleep spheres work. I have complete faith in Shiv's ability to save the world through doing another dive, Makarov. I need not like it that she must do something so extreme, but it is the best solution we have.” Another Fey female with much darker hair responded.

Igneel realized she was an Alpha the moment his eyes truly landed upon her. Although Igneel recognized the woman was not the strongest powered of the people who he sensed in the area, she wore the mantle of true leadership very well. If she was the kind of Alpha he suspected, it was going to be very interesting to watch her butt heads with any other Alphas as they arrived. Especially if the Lightning Dragon Slayer was a genuine Alpha considering the things Igneel had already heard about him. Cunning Alphas were the best at controlling others, and if this female was able to control Spawns, she was indeed formidable.

“When do you propose to do this dive spell?” Igneel asked as his tail began to twitch with anticipation of taking the other Slayer's measure. Plus, it sounded as if he could see his son, even if the brat was sleeping beyond Igneel's psychic reach.

 


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail universe or characters so make no money off this story. I own Original characters I toss into the mix to promote chaos for cannon characters. Here is another heavy revision chapter. Readers should realize by now that I am an erratic updater due to real life obligations. 2017 has been very difficult. Writing sort of slipped through the cracks and into writer's block for a time. Perhaps revising things will break the plot bunnies free and get me productive during this short break between jobs.

CHAPTER 16

Fury did not begin to cover Loke’s emotions as he stormed out of Fairy Tail’s infirmary after arguing with Braydon and company. Getting blocked from saving Lucy by the traitorous Fairies was unacceptable. They claimed they could not let him use the Scepter to remove the older spell due to their orders to safeguard Lucy and her two unwanted Dragon Slayer mates.

Gripping the Spirit King’s royal scepter tight enough to dig into his palm, Loke sought Makarov and Vraylinish. He needed them to rescind the current orders so he could undo the spell that was killing Lucy. Without Vraylinish coercing the arrogant wretches into standing down, saving Lucy was next to impossible. Strong as Loke was, he dared not waste a drop of his magic to fight his way to Lucy's side to use the scepter. The Spirit King charged him with breaking the defense spell Aquarius cast on Lucy during the Tartarus fight. So break the spell he must.

Stopping near the upper level tables and sweeping his eyes over the crowd, Loke bellowed when Makarov’s face was not found. “Does anyone know where Master is? I need to talk to him immediately.”

“Hey, Loke, what’s with the fancy staff you got there?” Macao asked.

“No time to explain. Where's Master Makarov?” Loke snapped at the older, half drunk guild member.

Cana intervened as she waved at Macao and Wakaba. “We saw him follow you into the infirmary, but far as I know Master hasn’t left there.”

“I just came out of the infirmary. Makarov isn’t there any longer” Loke vented as his hand swept through his hair.

Wakaba blew smoke as he spoke. “It's possible we didn't see him leave because of going downstairs to grab more barrels for Cana's drinking game.”

“The King left a little while ago. He was giving his people a bunch of orders as he stomped through the front doors. I think he took Sabertooth’s members with him when he walked out. Maybe Master’s outside somewhere with him.” Max added.

“Did anyone see Master Makarov leave with His Majesty?” Loke bellowed.

“Not that I noticed. So, what’s going on, Loke? The way the King was acting as he drug his daughter out of here has us worried.” Alzack jumped into the conversation.

“I need to find Makarov and the Sacred Saint like yesterday, people. Lucy’s running out of time! The Fairies won't let me remove the spell that's killing her unless their leader tells them to stand down! Do you idiots want Lucy, Laxus, and Natsu to die?” Loke lost his temper at everyone present.

“Whoa! Calm down, Loke. We’ll help you find Master.” Alzack responded with his hands up in surrender.

Cana, Macao, Alzack, Max, and Bisca left their seats. As they were heading downstairs, Bisca dropped Asuka into Wakaba's lap before she and her husband split up to look throughout the guild.

Loke headed to the main office, but Makarov was not sitting behind his desk. The room was devoid of life. Large stacks of folders and papers covering the massive desk were gathering dust in the silent room. Closing the door, Loke headed back down the hallway, checking every closed door along the route. Huffing in frustration, Loke was furious that Makarov was not in any of the rooms, not even the Guild’s bathroom. He needed to get things done, and the Fairies were not going to let him do anything unless Vraylinish forced them to obey. Complicating matters was needing Makarov's approval to get much needed backing.

Aquarius had indeed hidden things about her gate being commandeered to summon their King. It took the Celestial Spirit King’s presence to get the full truth out of the surly mermaid. The Celestial Spirit King was already furious over the Fairies meddling with his bloodline. Getting the truth out of Aquarius increased their King’s wrath to the point that the Celestial Spirit Realm was shuddering under his power discharges.

Some spirits were arguing that the ancient fail safe magic added after everyone's death absolved Aquarius of wrong doing for trying to save Lucy from damage during the fight with Zeref’s demons. Others were appalled that Aquarius had handed over a portion of her own magic to Lucy without getting prior authorization to grant her key holder water magic in the first place. Ignorance about the Orion lineage getting corrupted by Fairy magic was no excuse for not going through the correct channels to those spirits. Although everyone agreed the law must be upheld, most felt the rare proof of real love should downgrade Aquarius' punishment received when dispensing justice because of the circumstances.

Although he was far from a saint, Loke understood how rare it was for Aquarius to care for any human’s welfare. The Celestial Spirit King thought the previously unknown Fairy spell had twisted Aquarius’ forbidden gift into something deadly which enraged their King more. The one master Aquarius loved enough to protect with all her heart was in danger of dying because of the power given with the intention of protection short term. Somehow the Fairy spell had twisted a short term spell into a dangerous, life draining curse. Even Aquarius admitted that the gift was never meant to embed in Lucy’s soul.

Learning that Aquarius had broken the rules was hard to comprehend considering her personality. To prevent this kind of trouble, the law said no human could be given direct powers belonging to any spirits, especially if those powers were a form of merging. Only objects could be granted to a master by their spirit to insure that spirit powers did not contaminate human masters. Contamination which happened because of Aquarius’ actions. Aquarius had broken the law, and had to face the consequences of making a direct power transfer. Aquarius had split off core power and created a protection spell which she attached to Lucy right before her key was broken to call the Celestial Spirit King into the human realm. It was the fact she used core power that made Aquarius guilty of breaking the law.

Aquarius’ actions made no sense to the majority of spirits within the Celestial realm because the woman never truly liked any of her masters. None of them suspected how deeply the mermaid adored Lucy before her breaking of the law came to light. The horror on Aquarius’s face when she realized her power had become a life threatening problem for Lucy made very clear that Aquarius’ heart was shattering over her impulsive action. The many tireless hours Aquarius had spent in the library trying to save Lucy was proof that the mermaid cared deeply about Lucy.

If all went well, the Spirit King’s Holy Scepter held enough power to break Aquarius’ spell, and stop the excessive power drain happening to Lucy’s soul. The plan that the Celestial King devised was straightforward. Use the scepter’s power to break the spell so that the spell viewed as a corpse to Laxus and Natsu would vanish. Loke knew what he needed to do, but he wanted Makarov on board before fighting with the Fairies overseeing Lucy’s care again. Makarov could get Vraylinish to agree, and Loke needed her help despite trying to avoid the woman for various reasons. Time was of the essence if the spell was to be broken in time. Three lives were hanging in the balance.

“Loke, where are you? We found them!” He heard someone bellowing and jogged into the main room. Alzack and Bisca were standing in the lower tavern area looking up at the second floor.

“Where's Master Makarov?” Loke demanded as soon as he saw them.

“He’s outside with all the dragons. A new one’s arrived and the Sacred Saint’s with him.” Bisca yelled up to him.

With those words, Loke vaulted over the railing and dropped to the first floor. Loke sprinted toward the back door with Bisca and Alzack hot on his heels. Flinging the back door open hard, Loke charged into the training field and swimming pool area behind the Guild. Three huge dragons huddled at the edge of the training grounds were easy to spot so Loke raced toward them as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Makarov, we’ve got an emergency! I found out what happened to Lucy but the fucking Fairies won’t let me undo it!” Loke bellowed as he skidded to a stop near the dragons.

“Calm down, my boy.” Makarov spoke in a soothing tone as he walked closer.

“No time to be calm. I found out that Aquarius used a power share spell to protect Lucy that’s corroding. I have to break the original spell to stop the power drain that’s happening and the fucking Fairies won’t let me near my Princess so I can save her!” Loke snarled at the small Wizard Saint facing him.

“Are you sure there is a spell that you can break?” Makarov asked as he tugged at his mustache while walking with Loke back toward the guild hall.

“Yes, damn it! Aquarius admitted that she transferred a portion of her core power to Lucy in an ultimate protection spell during the battle with the Tartarus demons. Aquarius had no idea that the spell could become permanently attached to Lucy’s soul so didn’t say anything about it until now. It’s the only lead we have as to why the extreme life force and magic drain is happening. The Celestial Spirit King thinks that because Lucy is an Orion bloodline member, the Fairy spell that has enslaved Lucy to the Astral Chains twisted what Aquarius did out of love.”

Vraylinish came abreast of Loke as he grabbed the door. “Why do you think the ancient reinforcement spell has twisted the new spell?”

Whirling, fury mounting, Loke felt his teeth grind and pop in protest as he lost control of his rage. “The description and image Warren planted in my head before I left was shared with my King! The Celestial King is the one who says that the Fairies’ tampering with the original prison is to blame! Unlike me, His Majesty has perfect recall of his mortal life before he became a Celestial Spirit!”

Makarov’s enlarged hand shoved Loke and Vraylinish apart before Loke could unleash a Regulus attack on her to ease his rage with her lack of faith. “Enough, Loke. You have to calm down or I don’t dare let you anywhere near the infirmary. Now calm down and explain why the Celestial King thinks that the Fairy magic corrupted Aquarius’ protection spell.”

Shuddering, Loke tried to tame his rage but felt that he was wasting precious time Lucy no longer had to spare. “The spell Aquarius used gathers a portion of one’s core power instead of tapping the stars. Aquarius created a spell that would protect Lucy as if Aquarius was there until Lucy was no longer in danger from the demons. For that reason Laxus described seeing a corpse. The problem is the urn which has an Astral Chain coming out of it. It’s an Astral Star Chain! Lucy doesn’t know how to build one, but Aquarius does know how because she was a Constellation Temple Priestess. What’s coming out of the urn . . . ”

“None of this is explaining how your King got the idea the Fairy Spell to reinforce the prison has corrupted anything.” Vraylinish interrupted.

“Shut up and let me get to the point. If you won’t shut up and let me finish Lucy could die!” Loke roared in return.

Makarov grabbed his arm and drug Loke inside the guild to attempt to keep them from fighting each other. “Finish your explanation, Loke.”

“The chain Warren showed us from Laxus perspective looks identical to those which we Spirits use to pull power from the stars. It’s that point that is key to understanding how the Fairy’s reinforcement spell corrupted Aquarius’s protection spell. It’s the only thing that explains how an image of Aquarius became embedded in Lucy’s soul core. Our King thinks the spell that chains Lucy’s life force and magic to feed the prison chains from the original sixteen seals merged the protection spell with Aquarius’ ancient power from when we were creating the prison. The secondary spell we didn’t know about has merged Lucy’s reinforcement spell with Aquarius’ duty as a prison keeper and merged the two within Lucy’s soul core. Lucy doesn’t know how to build or maintain an Astral Star Chain the way we do! The fact that the urn is spewing out massive amounts of life force onto a literal Astral Star Chain which is unlike the other five is due to Lucy being trapped into Aquarius’ duty with no understanding of how to reverse the flow. The urn chain which has attached to Lucy’s soul perfectly matches Aquarius’ Astral Star Chain within the prison! Even Aquarius admitted that her power’s expanding at an alarming rate instead of having the normal amount of drain we always feel even while drawing off the stars because we are the actual prison! The only explanation is that the Fairy spell somehow attached Lucy’s core to Aquarius’ Astral Star Chain which is one of the literal prison foundations because the Fairies intended to reinforce the damned thing by using living humans!”

Vraylinish snapped at the Fey woman standing behind her. “Shiv, we need to undo this immediately. How long do you need before you can descend?”

“I can begin at any time, but without an Honor Ring to trap the power, it will do damage to the surroundings as I release veil chains, Sacred Saint.”

“Get started with your preparations. I’ll round up everyone we need to create a temporary barrier. Tell the Dragons we need their assistance in forming the barrier. They should have plenty of power at their disposal.” Vraylinish responded.

“As you wish, Sacred Saint.” Shiv nodded and stepped back through the doorway. “Makarov, do you have anyone capable of using magic that can keep a different magic contained in a specific area?”

”Yes. I have two Script Mages who specialize in runes and similar barrier making or breaking work.” Makarov answered with a furrowed brow.

“I’d like to ask that they also assist in creating the barrier. Out of all our members, Shiv has the most dangerous magic of all. We need to make certain to prevent too much damage as Shiv harnesses her raw power as the veil chains are broken. Once it is harnessed things will be safer, but for Shiv, it is very difficult to restrain her magic for more than a few minutes. Shiv must use as much power as possible whenever she drops the chains because of how much power she has at her core.”

“Makarov hummed as he stroked his mustache. Levy will be happy to help, but I have concerns about Freed. He is one of Laxus’ closest friends, so he could prove problematic as angry as he is right now.”

“Tell him the truth. The friend he cherishes may die if he is unwilling to help because we will have to await your King’s pleasure to unlock Shiv’s Veil Chains cast to undo the spell corruption. My people are doing all we can to undo this mess without fatalities, Makarov. I’m at wiles and wits end outside of using Shiv’s powers combined with yon Lion Spirit’s new information to untwist the spell we knew nothing of until now. The longer we tarry, the worse things are getting for those three because the Star Singer’s soul is drifting. What was done in the past cannot be undone, but by all I hold sacred I am trying to save their lives!”

“I know, Vraylinish. We both want to save all three of my children. Loke is no different than you or me in this desire. To save all three, we have to work together, and that requires trust. Do you understand me, Loke?”

“I understand, Master. Still, it’s hard to trust the damned Fairies! They won’t let me near Lucy and I have to touch her with the Celestial Scepter to break the spell.” Loke snarled in frustration.

“Perhaps there is a way to ease several troubles at once.” Vraylinish offered while staring at him Loke realized as his eyes shifted to see her.

“What it is, Vraylinish?” Makarov asked as he turned to look at the thoughtful looking woman.

“I recall several of your Spirit companions helping to fight with the Astral Chains attached to your Princess. How many of them would be willing to return to help my strongest powered elites feed life force power to those three and help us get them stable faster?”

Loke stared at Vraylinish as she continued to watch him in return. Uncertainty gnawed at Loke’s heart and mind on the one side, but the fractured Soul core pieces once known as Reagaltiel screamed for him to trust the woman. “What are you saying?”

“My people don’t know the girl, or have a strong enough attachment built to her or the men in question to do a direct feed of life energy to them. However, many of you seem to have a strong bond and could act as channels if you’re willing to grab hold of Veil Chains as they are unwinding and siphon off the extra power recoiling when the Veils break loose from our bindings.”

Considering what Vraylinish was describing, Loke felt his eyes widen as some of the ancient lore, which he could still access from the many lives that created him, began to surface. Fey half bloods had incredible power but it was never truly stable. The Fairy blood and magic tended to fight the human blood and life force more often than not. The power was painful and most Fey hybrids suffered horrific deaths before reaching adulthood. If the Celestial Spirits could harness, and dampen the raw power of the two blood types fighting for the purpose of returning strength to Lucy and the two men upstairs, it would make stabilizing her far easier. Plus would cut the time needed to awaken in half if they could shift enough power from the veil chains as they loosened.

“Only Virgo and I are currently strong enough to force open our own gates. The Celestial Spirit King has the power to authorize opening the other gates without a key holder’s contract and that means he would have to clear such a plan.”

“How long would you need to get permission, Loke?” Vraylinish asked.

“Not sure. But, I can use the Scepter to contact his Majesty and let you explain the additional proposals to the spell breaking.” Loke conceded.

Makarov placed a hand on Loke’s forearm. “If it will help Lucy, do you think the Celestial Spirit King will allow her other spirits to cross over, Loke?”

“Of course. Lucy saved all of us when we were corrupted by the Eclipse Gate. The whole Celestial Spirit realm holds a debt of gratitude which we can never hope to repay in Lucy’s lifetime, Makarov. Lucy saved our King from insanity and corruption. The last trio of Celestial Wizards working together stopped him from destroying our world, and releasing the Abyss Lord. How could any Spirit fail to help Lucy if it is within our power?”

“What do you need to make contact with the Spirit King so Vraylinish and I can speak with him?” Makarov asked with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

“We need a large communication lacrima and a gold stand.” Loke answered without hesitation.

“Let’s go to my office. I’ve got one that should fit our needs since I have to talk to the Magic Counsel so often.” Makarov answered and headed into the guild proper.

Loke followed the small man into the main tavern area. Before Makarov could take the stairs, Vraylinish spoke up. “I’ll put my people to work. Have your people meet mine where the dragons are, Makarov. I’ll be there to talk with the Celestial Spirit King as soon as I have told the plan we have in place to my warriors. We will need to use several of the language stones Sertatsie created if we are to get the honor ring completed faster.”

“Of course. Please leave one crystal for translation purposes and use the rest as you need. We’ll be waiting for you in my office.” Makarov answered before trotting up the stairs.

Loke followed his Guild Master up the stairs. He paused to waitas Makarov side tracked to the temporary upper floor tavern area. Within moments Makarov singled out Jet and spoke to him. A frown covered the light haired speed mage’s face. After several moments of listeningJet nodded and left his seat. With quick strides, Jet went over to Mirajane and spoke to her. The last glance Loke had of the pair, Mirajane was shaking her head before Loke turnedto follow Makarov into his office.

“Sending Jet after Freed, Master?”

“He's the fastest mage I have. Jet can find out where Freed and the others may have gone on a mission and get them turned around. I’m not too sure about how quickly we can get them back here if they took the train, but it is worth a try. I told him to see if Vraylinish has a portal master who can open gateways long distance through items before leaving.”

“So you’ve heard about how the Ancients used uncut gems for creating short distance gates.” Loke heard his anger leaking through as his words left his mouth.

“Yes. It is a rare ability, almost as rare as being a Celestial Spirit Mage. To us, it is a Lost Magic because of the kind of power required to do such feats. The things they can do unaided takes a dozen S class mages to accomplish these days if they are to be believed. The Ancients are truly terrifying if they are that powerful. So I don’t blame you for being uneasy around them, Loke. Still, I'm certain Vraylinish is doing all in her power to save Lucy, Laxus, and Natsu. We need to extend trust to her, even if it is difficult.”

Recognizing that Master Makarov was correct to lecture him, Loke heaved a sigh. Following Makarov's lead, Loke dropped the seat offered. Once settled Loke tried to explain his feeling. “It’s hard when I’m so afraid the Fairies will do something underhanded and we’ll lose the best Celestial Mage we’ve had in centuries, Master. The more human looking, and larger Fairies were always inordinately vicious. They aren’t the types to care who gets hurt or what the consequences are when they are amusing their selves. Vraylinish may be annoying because she doesn’t want to accept I’m not the person she once knew, but that’s separate from the critical Fairy problem.”

“Vraylinish claims there was a lot of dissent among Fairies about the way humans and other species were treated, Loke. She said that other than two among her group, the rest are all pro human and other species. They all fought for other races being treated with dignity and honor. The ones Vraylinish said to be on alert around was Skuhldra because she is a full Darkling, same as the She Wolf’s male Fairy mate, Raymord.”

“You would do well to avoid their mates also, Master Makarov. Let Vraylinish handle them at all times. Darklings are dangerous at the best of times. They are ten times worse when it involves their Soul Bonds. I recall that much from the lore I reclaimed through the Celestial Library, and the fragments of memories I can still dredge up.”

“Yes. I’m aware since Vraylinish did explain the problem with Full Darklings versus normal Darklings. The difference in love capacity and how it twists their character has much to do with the difference as I understand things. Full Darklings have very strong emotions according to Vraylinish.”

“Exactly. They can, with the help of their light Soul Bond Mates, tap very deep levels of the One Magic due to loving their Soul Bonds. It creates a near unstoppable force because they do embrace unconditional love for their mates. However, among the two Vraylinish warned you about, I recall Skuhldra. She won’t allow full merging of minds with her light Soul Bond mate. Zayden and Nadhasti have a hard time controlling her because Skuhldra withholds part of her mind for concocting devious ideas meant to protect them.”

Makarov nodded as he sat in his chair after setting up the communication lacrima. “Vraylinish did warn me that her two Darklings will stop at nothing to protect their loved ones, Loke. The fear of the Abyss Lord getting free has the two I was warned about demanding the breaking of the Astral Chains to be moved to others without consideration of Lucy’s welfare. It is one of the reasons that Braydon and his family are in charge of Lucy’s care. Vraylinish knows Braydon will protect Lucy, even if it makes you angry. Braydon won’t be fooled even if he is the dark half of his Soul bonded pairing.”

“I’m not going to do anything that will kill Lucy if I can avoid it. Braydon is the dark side of the bond as far as my memory remnants tell me. I know he is doing the best he can to be nice to other races, but he is still a full blood Fairy, Master Makarov.” Loke growled.

“Loke, never forget that love has a strong influence on most beings. Perhaps you should consider that it's influence works even on Fairies. Kendren and Embradia are both wonderful people as far as I can tell. They both want to see everyone in the infirmary healed. Braydon knows that is what they want, and I see him trying hard to make it happen.”

Loke sat in the chair fiddling with the Royal Scepter as Makarov continued to lecture him. It was not that Loke did not see where Makarov was coming from because Loke did understand the Master’s perspective. He simply hated that Makarov did not have any experience with Fairy hijinks.

“Makarov, I know what you are trying to say, and I get your points. The problem is that you have no idea what Darklings are like because you’ve never dealt with them. We Spirits remember dealing with them. It is knowing the truth of their pranks that makes me hate them so much. Braydon is one of the nicer ones, but never forget that he isn’t human, nor does he have human emotions or thoughts. Fairies are not like humans, and the Darklings are by far the most dangerous beings Earthland ever had to handle.”

Vraylinish pushed open the door and stepped into the room. Her brows were furrowed as she closed the door behind her. “You speak truth, Loke. Fairies are not human in any way. Still, thy are not as bad as some wish to believe either. They do the best they can with their antiquated minds. Ancient memories tend to muddle some of their reactions and reasoning.”

Loke snorted. “I think it goes well beyond muddled memories. Most don’t have compassion for others. I'm sure some of them would be content to kill Princess and the two men they Soul Bonded to her without explaining anything about the spell. They only care about results in these situations.”

Vraylinish heaved a sigh as she settled into another chair. “You also speak truth on this point, Loke. However, it is only because Fairies do not understand individuality as humans perceive it. They are born tied to an opposite being who shares everything from thoughts through sensations with them. They may change who they are bound to as they reach maturity, but will only chose their polar opposite because they cannot fathom anything else.”

Loke watched as Makarov hummed while considering the conversation. “We have to save my children either way, Vraylinish. I won’t tolerate my three guild children dying if I can prevent it.”

“Understood. I am the same. Fairies, like all creatures, have flaws. Yet I understand those flaws well enough to get around them. Leave them to me, and you won’t be sorry for granting me good faith. Now let’s get this plan completely ironed out and talk to this Celestial King.” Vraylinish responded as she leaned closer to the desk. Loke wondered how long this was going to take as he placed the scepter against the communication lacrima’s gold base to open the channel.

 


End file.
